#and now much climbing and hiking it involved

[forhappysake]

We're Okay

A/N - Guys idk where this came from. I guess I'm just feeling emotional and inspired.

Content - After JJ admits her decade-long love for Spencer, you and your boyfriend have to have a conversation to calm both of your doubts and fears.

Warnings: spencer reid x fem!reader, season 14 spoilers, anxiety, mentions of typical BAU-level crime stuff, fluff at the end

You walked in the door slowly, cautionary even; afraid the smallest noise would bring reality crashing down on you. The car ride home had been completely silent, as neither of you bothered to turn on the radio. Spencer shuffled in behind you, the click of the lock making you wince as you did your best to avoid his gaze. You stripped off your coat, throwing it over the couch before walking straight into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind you. 

As you started the shower and stripped off your clothes, the evening’s events rushed back into your mind. Being involved in a hostage situation with an unstable unsub was one thing. JJ being held at gunpoint was worse. However, as if all that wasn’t enough, JJ admitting her decade-long hidden love for Spencer was the final nail in the coffin. As you climbed into the shower, you did your best to let the water wash away the thoughts running through your head. 

Unfortunately, your attempt was unsuccessful. As you dried off and wrapped yourself in a towel, your mind raced. You’d been dating Spencer for nearly a year and a half. The two of you had just recently moved in together. Having known him and JJ for at least half a decade, you knew they were close, but you never would have guessed this was coming. You couldn’t help but wonder if he felt the same way she did. If so, what did this mean for your relationship?

After stalling in the bathroom for so long that goosebumps dotted your freshly dried body, you mustered up the courage to slip out of the bathroom and into the bedroom that you shared with Spencer. As you walked across the hallway, you could see his silhouette sitting on the living room couch, head bent forward. You couldn’t tell if he was reading or in deep thought, but you decided that either option was better than the alternative: trying to have a conversation. 

You snuck into the bedroom, gently turning on the bedroom light and letting your eyes adjust to the warm glow of your room. You meandered to the closet, pulling out a simple t-shirt and shorts to sleep in. Slipping into your pajamas and stealing a glance at yourself in the vanity mirror, you noticed one of the many images covering the tabletop. 

A framed photograph from less than a year ago of JJ, Will, Spencer, and yourself with the boys on a weekend hiking trip. You felt a pang of guilt in your chest and wondered if Will had any idea what was going on in JJ’s head. You shook the thought away, reminding yourself that you had bigger problems of your own to deal with. You turned back to the bed, sliding under the covers and turning off the light. Despite your distress, you were exhausted and you found yourself losing track of time and drifting off to sleep in mere minutes. 

*  *  *

You awoke to the sound of the bedroom door latching shut. You rolled over, blinking your eyes open in an attempt to sneak a peak at your bedside alarm clock. You’d already been asleep for three hours and Spencer was just now coming to bed. It was well after midnight, and you knew that meant he had been up thinking about something. You figured it would be best not to push the subject after everything that had happened. 

With your eyes shut, you waited to feel the familiar sensation of Spencer climbing into bed. Instead, you felt his weight at the foot of the bed, as if he had perched himself on the end. You tried not to think much of this and did your best to fake sleep. However, it soon became apparent that Spencer was on to you. 

“I know you’re awake,” he said gently. His voice was gruff from the hours he’d spent in silence. Spencer waited before speaking again, “I think we should talk about what happened.” 

There it is, you thought. Your stomach sank as your eyes fluttered open. You rolled over to face him, leaning up on your arms. It was then you noticed that he was still in his suit. His unkempt hair fell over his eyes and you couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for the disheveled man in front of you. “Alright,” you relented, still refusing to meet his eyes, “what do you want to talk about?”

Spencer rolled his neck, tension evident in his movements. “I want to know how you feel about what was said earlier,” he said. For the first time in hours, you met his eyes, trying to gauge his sincerity. You found no signs of dishonesty, so you fell back on the bed, letting out a dramatic sigh. 

“I don’t know, Spencer,” you groaned. “I definitely was surprised. I definitely wasn’t thrilled.” Spencer nodded, moving some hair away from his eyes as you spoke. “But,” you started again, “it’s not like we can go back and change it now.” 

He reached an arm out, putting a hand over the covers on top of your knee. “I know,” he whispered, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” 

You scoffed a bit at his sincerity and his innocence, meeting his eyes once more. “And how do you feel about it?” you asked. 

Spencer bit his lip in thought. You could tell you had caught him off guard with the question, and he seemed to be calculating his response. “Can I be honest with you?” he said. 

You raised your eyebrows, the nervous feeling in your stomach intensifying. Is this where he tells you he feels the same way and leaves for good? You pushed your thoughts to the side. “Always,” you whispered.

He sighed, laying back on the bed so he was next to you. You could feel the heat radiating off him, and you wanted nothing more than to curl into his warmth. You knew this wasn’t the time, so you held yourself back and held your breath, awaiting his response. 

“First, I was confused,” Spencer explained, eyes locked on the ceiling. “I haven’t thought about JJ like that in over ten years. Frankly, I never knew she thought of me that way, so I was caught off-guard.” 

So he did have a crush on her at one time, you thought. You were ready to close your eyes in defeat, to slip off the bed and out of the apartment and never come back when he cleared his throat. 

“But then,” he started once more, “I had a quick epiphany of all the moments she’d gone out of her way for me, and I could understand where she was coming from.” You turned to look at him, watching his eyes scan the ceiling as he tried to come up with his next statements. 

“And?” you asked, prompting him to continue. 

“And then,” he continued your previous statement, “I was terribly appalled.” 

Your head, which had turned to the ceiling, snapped back in his direction. You felt your eyebrows raise and your jaw drop open a bit in surprise. “Appalled?” you asked, confusion evident in your expression. 

“Appalled,” Spencer echoed, sitting up on the edge of the bed once more and looking back at you. 

“Why?” you asked. 

Spencer shook his head, looking around the room. “I’ve been thinking about that for the last couple hours, and I’ve come up with a lot of reasons,” he mused. “I know she was in a tight place, but Will deserves better than that. The boys deserve better than that. But aside from them,” he leaned over on the bed, intertwining his fingers with yours, “I couldn’t stop thinking about what you must have thought. I was so afraid of your reaction and of losing you.”

Despite your evident emotional state as tears pooled in your eyes, you tried to play it off. “Spencer, this isn’t about me,” you reminded him. 

“Yes,” he said, lying next to you, “it is.” Spencer ran a hand through his hair, pulling some curls out of his eyes. “Everyone knows how much I love you. I know how scary something like this can be. But you have to know that I have no idea where this came from and that anything JJ and I had died, on my end, long before I ever met you.” 

You glanced over at him, the sincerity in his voice had moved you to believe him. For a moment, you forgot about JJ and Will, the boys, and the implications of her words. You offered his fingers a small squeeze. “So we’re okay?” you asked in a tiny voice. 

“More than,” Spencer whispered. 

He rolled on his side to face you and you mirrored his actions. He wrapped his arms tight around your body, the textured material of his suit jacket pressed against your cheek. A gentle kiss was pressed to your forehead and you found yourself falling back into sleep. After several minutes passed, you felt Spencer’s voice rumble through his chest for a final time before he succumbed to sleep: “Ever since I met you,” he mumbled, smoothing some stray hairs away from your face, “it’s always been you.”

[ckret2]

Chapter 47 of human Bill Cipher thinking that being imprisoned in the Mystery Shack is looking pretty good right now:

The Eclipse: Part 5

Bill and Ford are just... so energized and enthusiastic after their near death experience. Not to mention fashionable.

But they've got nothing on Dipper.

And, at long last, Ford and Dipper badger Bill—who's just too tired to lie—into explaining what kind of an "eclipse" involves a giant flying axolotl making gravity disappear.

####

When they reached the cave, Ford discovered that his antique lantern was too waterlogged to light.

"I'm not sure how we're getting to the top now," Ford said. The cavern directly behind the waterfall had some ambient lighting, but it wouldn't carry very far. "I know you can see, but I don't trust you to lead me through a cave system in the dark, no offense." He was surprised at himself for saying no offense.

"If I was planning to let you fall off a cliff, I could've saved myself a swim in the lake." Bill had taken off his backpack and was rummaging through it. "Didn't your lantern go out when you took four-eyes hiking through here? You should have learned your lesson."

Bill must have meant Fiddleford, though it was strange to hear him single out Fiddleford as "four-eyes" when Ford wore glasses too. "I did learn my lesson. I brought three flashlights as backup," Ford said. "Which are in Dipper's backpack."

Bill laughed weakly.

"Did you bring a flashlight?"

"Better." Bill pulled out a kazoo. He blew a stream of water from it, shook it, and then took a deep breath and played a long high note that wavered up and down.

Ford cringed at the noise. "Bill, what—?"

Bill held up a finger to silence Ford. Okay, fine. He was curious now.

It took a few moments of increasingly irritating kazoo playing, but Ford heard a soft clinking sound coming from the deeper caverns; and then several geodites—small creatures that looked like stone orbs with crystal limbs and teeth and glowing eyes—curiously emerged into the main cavern. Ford hadn't seen these creatures since he'd documented them in the eighties. He hadn't known they could be summoned via kazoo. They began making a high pitched humming along with Bill's kazooing. 

"There you are." Bill stuffed the kazoo into his backpack and crouched down, holding out a hand until a couple of geodites crept closer to inspect it; and then he scooped up the closest one. The others startled into breaking off singing, but hovered nearby, chirping and clicking. "Okay, grab a flashlight." The light the geodites' eyes gave off wasn't very bright; but it was enough for Ford to see Bill's smug smirk. They proceeded into the caves, and a dozen-odd more geodites—perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps out of concern for the two hostages—followed along behind them.

The climb went much slower than it had just a few hours earlier. Unsurprisingly, without low gravity on his side, Bill was the holdup this time. Not only was he not as experienced in spelunking as Ford, but between his waterlogged dress shoes and his borrowed trout slippers he didn't have any appropriate footwear, and he'd elected to carefully climb barefoot again. When Ford had climbed up this path with Fiddleford in the 80s, it had been a six hour climb. He had no idea how long it would take with Bill.

But even at that, Ford hadn't expected Bill to need to pause so often to get his energy back. It seemed like the more Ford recovered from their fall in the lake, the weaker Bill got. In any other situation, he'd suspect Bill of slowing them down on purpose, but after... well, even that aside, Ford couldn't think of any reason Bill would want to delay getting home.

"It's just this body that's dizzy," Bill said, the fourth time they had to stop for him to sit. "Probably one of those... counterproductive stress reactions human bodies get." He wiped a film of sweat off his forehead, then stopped to examine how his hand trembled when his geodite's spotlight eyes fixed on it. "That or it's because I've only had a handful of cereal for the past two days."

Ford stared at him. "You what? Why?"

Bill shrugged. "Body wouldn't let me get more down. Wasn't my idea."

"Well, for goodness's sake, eat something now."

Bill took off his backpack, pulled out a cereal box, and opened it. He grimaced. He poured out a puddle of sugary lake water and dissolved cereal.

Of course. "Here." Ford pulled a tube of astronaut meat out of his backpack and offered it over. "It's not the most nutritionally complete meal supplement, but it's something. It'll have protein."

Bill took the tube with a grimace, but squeezed out a dollop of meat paste and licked it; and then he gagged so hard he doubled over. He clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from retching and offered the tube back. "Mmmf." The geodite hopped out of his lap in alarm and retreated to the group of hangers-on traveling with them.

The meat paste wasn't great, but that was a disproportionate reaction out of the alien who liked to mix chocolate sauce and mustard. This was a bigger problem than Ford had anticipated. "Keep it. If you can get down even a tiny bit every few minutes, that's better than nothing."

Bill nodded jerkily.

"I think it's better if we reach Dipper and get out of here as soon as possible."

Bill nodded more enthusiastically.

What would they do if Bill couldn't make it the whole way? Would Ford have to leave him in the cave and come back for him later? Ford hadn't tied the infinity belt's cable to Bill like he'd meant to, he just realized. It seemed unnecessarily cruel to try now; but it might be useful if he did have to leave Bill behind. He didn't know that they had any better option, he couldn't carry Bill all the way up and down. Especially since Bill had let go of his geodite, and Ford suspected the rest might abandon them if he put down his own...

They'd have to figure that out if it came to it. For now, they kept walking—Ford glancing back regularly to check on Bill, and Bill pretending he didn't notice.

####

After another half hour and another two increasingly frequent breaks, Ford saw a faint light in the tunnels ahead—yellow-white, not like the geodites' natural blues and purples. "Bill, is that...?"

"Hm?" Bill looked in the direction Ford was pointing. His right eye twitched, and then he had to squeeze his eyes shut in pain. "Yep. Boy child at 12 o'clock."

Ford called out, "Dipper?"

"Great Uncle Ford!" Dipper's voice echoed through the caves. There was a sound of clattering rocks as Dipper scrabbled down the tunnel to join them. The geodites scattered in fear, peering out from behind stalagmites as Dipper's flashlight swept over the scene. "Grunkle Ford! Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. Are you—?"

Dipper collided with Ford to hug him. (Ford held his geodite out to the side so he could return a one-armed hug.) "I'm so sorry I saw you go over the cliff but I couldn't do anything I was in the mindscape the whole time something sucked my soul out of my body—"

"Not it, I'm innocent," Bill said unnecessarily, "nobody look at me." He'd taken advantage of the break to immediately sit on the ground. His abandoned geodite crept back over to check on him.

"—and—and wow, that was the Axolotl you were talking about, right?" Dipper let go of Ford to gesture like a fisherman demonstrating the size of an enormous catch, "It was huge, it had to be—I don't know, as long as the county? The whole state? How did it get so big? Is the Axolotl an alien or some kind of mutant Earth axolotl? Are all axolotls aliens—?"

"Now, hold on," Ford said, putting a hand on Dipper's shoulder, "what huge axolotl? What are you talking about?"

"You didn't see it?" Dipper paused, looked Ford up and down, and said, "What are you wearing?"

Ford grimaced, tugged his bandanna up a little higher, and turned his geodite away when it tried to aim its spotlight eyes at his neck to see what he was doing. "We had to borrow some dry clothes."

"He couldn't see the Axolotl," Bill said. "You shouldn't have, either."

"Sor-ry. Getting sucked out of my body wasn't my idea—"

"Hold on," Ford said again. "What do you mean, sucked out of your body?"

As they headed back down toward the waterfall, Dipper and Ford exchanged their versions of events. It didn't take long for them to realize Bill had saved both their lives with a swift efficiency that, had it been applied to any less altruistic a task, could have been called "ruthless." They didn't say anything, but neither one could stop from glancing back toward Bill.

"What?" he snapped, clinging to his geodite a little tighter like he thought they were planning to take it. "I don't owe you an explanation. You're not dead! Be grateful. Stop looking at me."

They stopped looking at him. Bill should be gloating about them owing him their lives. He should be convincing them they had to pay back their debt. Silence alone would have been worrying; but bristling like he wanted them to forget what he'd done was baffling.

As Dipper finished explaining his version of events, he said, "I think I remember meeting the Axolotl before—like you said." He directed this last comment back over his shoulder toward Bill.

Bill—whose entire attention had been focused for the last ten minutes on walking without collapsing, tripping, or dropping his geodite—simply muttered, "My condolences."

"Wait," Ford said, "You've... met a giant invisible axolotl before?"

"Mabel and I both did."

"When?"

Dipper opened his mouth, paused, and glanced back again at Bill for help.

It took a few seconds for Bill to register the question. "Oh—they've never met before. Not in this reality."

Exasperated, Dipper asked, "Then why do I remember it?"

"I told you—echoes," Bill said. When Dipper continued giving him an expectant look, Bill sighed deeply and said, "This is an embarrassing oversimplification, but you're at least familiar with the concept of branching timelines, right?"

"Of course I am. Every time you make a decision, the timeline splits into two paths—"

"Cute that you think it caps out at two," Bill said. "And a decision doesn't always split the timeline, sometimes the branches collapse back together depending on the gravity of the decision you made. I don't literally mean a decision 'you' made—you've never made a decision that important—but sure, you've got the basic idea."

"Fine," Dipper snapped. "So I met it on another branch, right? When?"

"Never," Bill said.

"Okay. Yes. But there is a branch where... some version of me met it. Right?"

"It depends on how you define 'is.'"

Dipper puffed out his cheeks with the effort of restraining a yell. He looked at Ford for either help or sympathy.

Ford winked surreptitiously at Dipper and said, "It's probably some complicated chronological issue. I doubt Bill can explain it in a way humans can understand." Under his breath, he loudly muttered, "Some 'teacher.'"

Bill straight-armed Ford aside to walk beside Dipper. "You humans have no sense of humor," he said. "I said you met him never because it's literally true. You had an accident that landed you in a time and space outside time and space—the meeting happened never and nowhere. It's where he prefers to take visitors. That timeline terminated after your meeting—and I don't mean you died, I mean he terminated that entire timeline."

"Really?" Dipper shivered. "With... With everyone in it? Why did he do that? Did something dangerous happen in that timeline, or was it unstable, or...?"

"That's how he usually ends casual meet-and-greets," Bill said. "Higher dimensional beings. He sees your reality from a perspective unimaginable to you. Remember when I told you you're just a movie projecting on a wall to him; he's got no problem with pulling the film out of the reel to inspect a few frames and then turning the entire projector off when he's done. What does he care if that's somebody's entire reality?" He paused to think that over. "Maybe the projector metaphor's getting strained. Imagine flipping through a book with all the pages out of order, and meeting him is like somehow flipping to a page outside the book... No, that's a little too contrived. I'll stick with the projector."

"When did we... when would we have met him?" Dipper asked. "And—when I say 'when' I mean—you know what I mean."

"You mean, when would you have made the decisions that could have led to you meeting him? Depending on your perspective, either last August or 207̃05. Time travel was involved."

"Last August..." Dipper thought back. "Was that when we were—?"

"Treasure hunting, yeah. By the by, I never asked—" Bill gestured vaguely around them at everything in general, "—which dimension did I end up in? Is this the one where you went hunting in the 1400s or 1800s?"

"Uh—1800s."

"Hm. Knew this wasn't a 207̃05 treasure hunt timeline, Questiony doesn't have a pet enslaved time pirate."

"A what?"

"So you never had a chance of meeting the Axolotl anyway," Bill said. "Hey, fun fact! Did you know there's a time pocket where twelve million alternate versions of you, your sister, and the puppet with the goggles failed at your quest and plummeted out of time? I wonder how long the last of them survived! I meant to check in after Weirdmageddon. Human flesh isn't that nutritious and doesn't have much water, but with millions of bodies and a little determination— Hey, wanna know how long you all were there before you started resorting to cannibalism—?"

"No," Ford said before Dipper had to. "And I'll thank you not to get off topic to try to give my gnephew more nightmares."

Bill shot him a sideways glance. "Remind me to tell you about the time pocket formed by all the timelines where you and Specs did your first portal test without checking your math."

"So if I wasn't even supposed to meet him—how did I see him today?" Dipper asked. "Did he pull me out of my body into the mindscape so we could talk, or...? But he didn't even tell me anything, was he just trying to get me to remember meeting him in the terminated timeline—?"

"He wasn't trying to do anything," Bill said. "He wasn't here for you, he didn't care. Shadow on the wall."

"Then what was he here for? You?"

It took Bill too long to answer. He just shrugged vaguely. "Probably not."

"Huh." Instead of questioning Bill, Dipper briefly turned introspective himself, gaze far away and thoughtful. "I think I remember a little more about meeting the Axolotl now. The first time, I mean."

"Oh, do you?" Bill asked. "Ha! Poor kid."

"Mabel and I were in some kind of rocket car?" Dipper's brows furrowed in concentration. "And the Axolotl had a... bean bag chair?"

Bill scoffed. "He still has that old thing?! Wow."

"It was really comfortable."

"It's also really tacky."

"You talked about him like he was some kind of... of big... eldritch cosmic horror thing," Dipper said. "What kind of a cosmic horror has bean bag chairs?"

"What, do you think being a vast multidimensional amphibious monstrosity with an incomprehensible mind and a body that can only been seen in lower dimensions as grotesque shapeshifting cross-sections protects you from having bad taste? He'll flay your sanity straight out of your gray matter—and you won't even have the comfort of knowing your mind-shredder had nice interior decor sensibilities!"

"I can sympathize with the experience," Ford muttered. "I was driven to the brink of paranoid madness by a nightmare demon who thinks Doric columns go with checkerboard flooring."

Bill let out a shrill "Ha!" and smacked Ford's shoulder.

"But he remembered me when we met," Dipper went on. "He told me to say hi to Mabel. And—the last time we met, we—talked. I don't remember it all yet, but... you were wrong about him. There was nothing insanity-inducing about him. He was just... nice."

"You don't think the madness sets in all at once, do you?" Bill turned back to Dipper, with an air of what Ford uncomfortably felt like was ill intent. "Go on then—what did you talk about? You can't remember it, can you? Why not? Just a harmless little conversation, right?"

Dipper frowned in thought. "There was something important, but—I can't remember what it was. What was it?" He muttered, "I know it was something important—"

"And there we go!" Bill gestured at Dipper with a flourish, triumphant. "Now you're digging for the significance of the whole thing. You're trying to comprehend the motives of something that has a state of existence your mind wasn't built to understand! You'll either go mad trying to understand his motives—or you'll go mad because you do understand. You're doomed now, kid—this is gonna haunt you for the rest of your days." He laughed. "Try to stop thinking about it now while you're ahead!"

"I'm not going insane," Dipper said. "Just shut up, I'm trying to remember."

"'I'm not obsessed, I swear! I can stop thinking about it any time I want!' Sure."

"Shut up," Dipper repeated. "It had to have been something important! Otherwise why would he dragged me out of my body and—and shown me the fourth dimension just so I could meet him?"

"Don't sound so self-important! You never saw the fourth dimension; if you had, you wouldn't think he looks like an axolotl. He visited this dimension's mindscape," Bill said. "And he didn't even mean to drag you into the mindscape! It was just a side-effect of his gravitational pull. He tugged you toward him just like everything else in town; but Earth'sgravity doesn't extend through planes like the mindscape, and his does. Yanked your spirit right out of your body."

"Then why was I the only one?" Dipper demanded. "Why didn't you or Grunkle Ford leave your bodies?"

"Your spirit's more loosely attached to your body than ours."

"Why?!"

For a moment, Bill's face twisted with displeasure; and then he sighed in resignation. "Ah, heck with it. You've been astral projecting."

Dipper's mouth worked uselessly. He croaked, "What?"

"It's when you—"

"I know what it is! I mean—what? How? When?"

"At least as long as I've been here. How long have you been having those out-of-body dreams?"

"Y—!" Dipper socked Bill's arm. Bill didn't even flinch. "You said those were nightmares!"

"And I lied," Bill said tiredly.

"Why?!"

"Thought you'd be annoying about it."

"I've been dealing with this all year, you—!" Dipper groaned in aggravation. "Why am I astral projecting! I wasn't trying to learn or anything!"

"How should I know, I wasn't around. Best guess, I think I ripped up the Velcro sticking your soul to your body when I yanked you out to puppet it," Bill said. "Oops."

Dipper gaped at him in outrage. "'Oops'?! That's all you can— I've been terrified and I thought it was a nightmare and it was real all along and it was all your fault and you won't even—"

"I knew you'd be annoying."

"I'm annoying?! How would you like it if you'd spent a year getting dragged out of your body in your sleep—!"

Bill abruptly stopped walking, turned toward Dipper, and said with an intensity that startled Dipper into silence, "You don't have the slightest idea how much I'd like it. How would you like it if you'd been trying for weeks t—" Bill cut himself off before he could get more heated; and instead, only said, "If you. Wanted to get out of your body. And couldn't. And some brat down the hall is doing it without even trying."

Dipper remained frozen, jaw locked tight in a grimace, until Bill turned away and trudged on. Dipper snapped, "But I don't want to do it. And it's your fault I am."

"Great. Nobody's satisfied." Bill sighed. "Make the most of it. Watch late night TV. Learn to meditate or something, I don't care. You've got nothing to worry about, it's harmless." He paused. "As long as nothing else crawls in your body while you're outside of it."

"WHAT?!"

"It's fine. Nothing'll get you in the shack through the unicorn hair barri... hm. Well—you're safe in the shack."

"But I have to go home at the end of summer! Will something be able to get me then?!"

Bill shrugged. "Hypothetically."

"Am I gonna die?!"

"Given my understanding of human mortality? Sure, sooner or later. Wanna hear your top five most likely causes of death?"

"No! Is it possible to—to stop? Can I control the astral projecting?"

"Yeah, sure, I guess. Ask me next time you're out of your body. I'll show you"

"Can't you show me n—"

"No. Not while you're in your body."

Dipper scowled. "Fine! Next time I'm projecting, I'm kicking you awake until you help me." He turned away from Bill; and, after a moment of fuming, mumbled to himself, "If I've been astral projecting... then that time I visited the neighbors... oh, man..." He trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts.

Keeping silent during that discussion had been agony for Ford.

Every few seconds, he'd wanted to butt in either to eagerly ask for more information about the Axolotl or astral projection, or—far more often—to express his rage on Dipper's behalf, that Bill (of course!) had put him through this, and then not even had the decency (of course!) to try to rectify it.

But it was Dipper's conversation. It was about Dipper's problem, and anyway Dipper had been trying so long to pry some sort of useful information out of Bill—it would be cruel of Ford to snatch the conversation away from him when he was finally getting somewhere. He'd have a lot to discuss with Dipper once they were home and could get away from Bill.

But staying outside the conversation had let him observe three points he might have otherwise missed.

One: Bill really wasn't himself. Back when he'd been playing as Ford's muse, whenever he got to answer questions, he'd always done it with an air of theatricality and barely-suppressed glee; and after he'd given up that act, he'd answered questions with smug arrogance, the glee turned to sadistic delight at the bad news he could deliver. Now, he simply answered them. Even his attempts to be condescending gradually got less enthusiastic until they petered out completely.

Two: Bill was answering questions he never would have answered that morning. After telling them as little as he could about the thing coming to Gravity Falls, even trying to avoid admitting it was the Axolotl, now he was freely talking about the Axolotl's taste in furniture as though he knew the beast personally. After hiding that Dipper was astral projecting for over a month, he simply told him. Heck with it. He'd admitted it was probably his fault. He'd said the last two words Ford had ever thought he'd hear come out of Bill's mouth: I lied.

Three: this was the longest Bill had walked without needing a break all day. His voice was stronger. His steps were more steady. Ford had even seen him squeeze out a few dollops of astronaut paste between comments—and he struggled to make himself swallow, but he didn't gag.

And now that Dipper had stopped asking him about the Axolotl and about astral projection, Bill's footing was growing less certain again. He wove unsteadily on the path and had to pause to lean a hand on a stalactite, taking deep breaths. "Gimme a second."

Bill was distracting himself. He was keeping himself going through conversation, the simple ritual of receiving and answering questions. Ford understood: sometimes, in desperate circumstances, you had to burn yourself out to get somewhere safe enough to collapse and recover. When you had no choice but to push yourself, the best thing you could do was think about anything but your exhausted, failing body. It made it easier to keep moving and burn through what energy you had left.

Ford had once wondered if his "muse" was some manner of creature that was compelled to answer the questions his protégés asked him. This was perhaps the closest Bill had ever gotten to actually being such an entity: answering questions because he had to to go on, and willing to give away almost anything as long as it kept him moving.

Ford stopped next to Bill. "So. The Axolotl was the source of your 'gravitational eclipse,' I suppose."

"Astute observation," Bill said flatly.

"I take it that it isn't 'eclipsing' gravity so much as canceling it out. The Axolotl must have a mass similar to Earth's, if the force it exerts flying by above us is nearly identical to the force of Earth below us."

"More or less."

"But according to Dipper's observations, this Axolotl is only the size of Oregon at most. Did he underestimate its size? Or perhaps it's incredibly dense...?"

Bill gave Ford a sharp sideways glance. Were this any other conversation on any other day, this would be when the gloating started. Well, well, well, look who finally believes I was telling the truth, finally crawling back to me to give you all the answers you can't find yourself— But Bill only looked away again, pushed himself back upright, and kept walking. "You're the square looking at the sphere and thinking it's a circle," Bill said. "The majority of the Axolotl's mass is in dimensions you can't see. The little bit of him that's visible in the mindscape is just a... a feeler. Or an anglerfish's lure. The rest of him is close enough to exert a gravitational pull—but not in a dimension you can see."

"Which dimensions does he exist in?"

"I can't tell you because your species knows so little about them that the answer wouldn't mean anything. You haven't even decided whether or not you want to officially call the dimension that time shines from the 'fourth' dimension—I could tell you he comes from the seventeenth dimension and it wouldn't mean anything but an impressively high number to you."

Dubiously, Ford asked, "Does he come from the seventeenth?"

Bill waved a hand vaguely. "Heck if I know. The most I've ever seen at once is nine, and I was on a lot of psychedelics at the time. My eyeball popped."

"Eugh." 

"Worth it, though. If you ever wanna feel cosmically insignificant in the most breathtakingly beautiful way possible, and you don't mind going blind, let me know. I think I can remember most of what I was on."

"Pass," Ford said. "If the Axolotl is so enormous, then why was only Gravity Falls affected by its gravity? At a minimum, shouldn't have the rest of the Pacific Northwest been impacted—if not the whole planet?"

"He wasn't near the rest of the Pacific Northwest. In the third dimension, Gravity Falls is obviously connected to Oregon; but in higher dimensions, it's..." He tried unsuccessfully to pantomime something mountainlike. "Imagine if the second dimension were a flat sheet of stretchy fabric. If somebody plucked the fabric up in the middle and made a peak, a creature living on the surface of the fabric would still be able to travel across its slope like it was flat, right?"

Ford tried to visualize Bill's description. "Right."

"And so if a fly flew past the peak of the fabric, it'd cross near whatever town's at that peak without getting near the towns at the bottom of the slope."

"Rrright."

"That's what Gravity Falls looks like from the fourth dimension," Bill said. "In the third dimension you can't see anything, but to fourth dimensional beings it sticks out of the fabric of spacetime like a thousand mile high pillar in the middle of a desert. That's why Time Baby put his capitol here."

Now, Ford wasn't sure that sounded right, but he didn't know enough about the seventeenth-or-whatever dimension to dispute it. "And why you kept trying to punch through to our dimension from here?" he guessed. "I imagine stretching the fabric of spacetime that far might make it easier to tear."

Bill shot him a sour look, but didn't deny it.

"Why did the gravity go down slowly for two days and then come back all at once? Did the Axolotl just leave faster than it came?"

"You know how the Doppler effect works?"

Ford hesitated. "Yes. Obviously."

"Well, in higher dimensions, gravity works like a reverse Doppler effect. It spreads out in front of a moving object—"

"Oh, come on."

"—and compresses behind the object—"

"Now you're just making up scientific-sounding nonsense because you know I can't disprove it."

"I'm not, and as soon as you get me a pen and paper I can prove it." Loftily, Bill said, "There's a simple equation that can explain higher dimensional gravity."

Ford was pretty sure he was being made fun of. He didn't mean to laugh, but he did. Dipper looked at him like he'd lost his mind; but trying to explain what was so funny would probably just make him look more insane.

Bill looked nearly as surprised.

####

"... And the smaller axolotls, what are they—heralds, worshipers? Children?"

Bill scoffed in disgust, "I don't know, I've never asked him. I see them like the flies orbiting a cow's tail. They migrate with him, that's all I know."

"Then the Axolotl really was just 'migrating'?"

"Well. Migrating in the sense that a mayfly watching a human walk back and forth to the office thinks it must be 'migrating.' He has..." Bill gestured vaguely, "duties, that mandate he travel fixed routes through the multiverse. He just happens to have a years-long workday. His commute doesn't usually take him past 46'\."

"'Duties' as in... divine duties?"

"It depends on if you worship him for doing them. I don't."

The cavern was growing light again, and the distant waterfall was audible. Ford quietly sighed in relief. Even as oddly forthcoming as Bill had been, Ford doubted that even two-thirds of the information he'd shared was true. But it was hard to tell. It had always been hard to tell.

Dipper helped Ford deflate the raft and pack it up. As he did, he said, voice low, "Is it just me, or is Bill kinda...?"

Ford cast a sideways glance across the cavern. Bill was crouched in front of the geodite he'd carried all up and down the tunnel, backpack in his lap, pouring a pile of soggy cereal onto the ground for the geodite to eat. Ford was surprised he'd gotten so attached to the creature. "I think he's been in some state of mental shock since the fall in the lake," Ford said. "And it seems he hasn't been able to keep down a full meal since we left yesterday. I suspect he's barely on his feet. The sooner we can get him back to the shack, the better."

"Oh." Dipper frowned toward Bill. (He was now pouring cold medicine on the cereal. Ford would have to ask him about geodite diets.)

"What are you thinking?"

Dipper shook his head. "I just thought... He seems like he's thinking about something. And he's giving so much away... I don't know. I wanted him to talk, but now it makes me wonder if he's scheming something."

From what Ford had seen, at the moment he doubted Bill could so much as scheme a way to ruin a picnic. But now he was second-guessing his perception. Ford knew Bill better than anyone; but that also meant Bill knew how to manipulate Ford better than anyone. What was Dipper seeing that he didn't? "Really? Do you think so?"

Dipper hesitated. "I—thought so? Maybe not." (Well, now they were both second-guessing themselves.) "I just don't know why he'd tell us so much if he isn't up to something. It feels like a distraction."

"Ah." Ford nodded. "I think the distraction is for himself."

"Mm." (Ford wasn't sure if Dipper had heard him.) "I just feel like there's—something. I can feel it in the back of my head." He stared at Bill a moment longer; then shook his head and turned away. "Maybe it's not him, maybe it's the Axolotl. He said something I can't remember. Something about degrees."

"Degrees?"

But Dipper didn't reply. He'd returned to his work, lost in his own head, mumbling under his breath the way he did whenever he was trying to work something out. Something else for Ford to ask about later.

When they got in Tate's loaned motorboat to head back out, Dipper got a look at the rainbow trout slippers Bill had put back on, and let out a choked laugh of surprise; and then that was the last sound any of them made as they crossed the lake. Ford steered, Dipper remained lost in his own thoughts, and Bill stared at his friendship bracelet, thumb running around the glass evil eyes.

####

(Finally a few mysteries solved! I hope y'all enjoyed, and I look forward to hearing what you think. Next week is another emotionally wrenching chapter!!)

[kanmom51]

Jikook and boats

We've established that JM loves the sea, and even more so he loves being there with JK.

As a whole we've seen Jikook on the beach or on boats together.

We know the two might have not planned the whole trip but they certainly were involved in the planning and came up with ideas for activities. So no wonder we get them on a boat in CT and we will be getting them on a boat in Jeju as well.

There is something to be said for that calm of the sea, more so when they have the opportunity to do so when it's just the two of them.

A sense of freedom.

From day to day life, expectations, pressures. Just being there in the middle of nowhere 'alone'.

Even with half a dozen cameras shoved in your face including cameramen behind those cameras.

And when I talk about day to day life, expectations and pressures I'm talking about all those as an idol. Because what we know as all of those are so different than what they do. These young men have been working since their teenage years, JK since he's been 14. They don't know another kind of life (they are experiencing a bit of that now in the military). And even now, years later, being famous - worldwide superstars, super rich, their lives are busy, their schedules chockablock, so much so that while on their solo journey found it hard to spend enough quality time together. And time is not everything. Pressures are not everything. It's also the expectations. Living their lives under that constant criticizing public eye. Not 'allowed' to basically have a private life, as in date, have a long term relationship, love another person, because they 'belong' to their fans.

Look at what's happening with Yoongi.

This latest development utterly disgusting. Ridiculous, and yet hurtful and disgusting.

Point being that is their reality. And getting away from that, to be in the middle of nowhere just the two of them just ocean and them is a dream for them.

So, they took the time.

For JM to catch up on his sleep, seeing that he didn't get much if any the night before only to go on a hike in the morning (no wonder he was taking it slow), JK just being there by his side.

For the two of them to just relax.

And with that sense of freedom, just letting go.

Oops, wrong movie reference...

JM climbing JK like a tree not new. Nor is them playing out Titanic.

Obviously Titanic is JK's fave movie, not JM's, and I guess JM is used to be the one JK holds onto when they do this, cause that was no Titanic hug. More so JM just finding that carved out place for him on JK's back and getting comfortable there, lol. JM's closed eyes show us just how comfortable (not wincing because of the sun in his eyes, given that the sun was behind them).

Obviously there was a cut right there and then. Can't help, as usual, but wonder what ended up on the editing floor with this one.

Speaking of freedom and joy, their playfulness was next level (notched up a level higher at the house later on), if it's the way they talked to each other and if it's getting all handsy with each other, again, with the cameras rolling, says it all.

Btw, what bites was JK looking for there? The mosquito bites or his own? He was promised a taste of JM's blood, no?

Look, they knew that a. they wouldn't be taking things too far because of JM's leaking faucet and the staff on the boat (yes, they have signed NDA's, but these are still not company staff and the level of trust is as such); b. there was a whole bedroom under deck where they could be free of prying eyes if they wanted or needed (and they might have just taken advantage of said bedroom - to nap - get out of your dirty heads); c. even if they did go a little too far that's what editing is for. And we did see much of said editing in the show. Just a couple examples of sus cuts: when JK was feeling up JM's nice probably smooth bare leg talking about eating something, when JM climbed JK like a tree, and one example not on the boat - when JM was climbing JK's shoulders while brushing their teeth, laying on the bed, cutting to JK continuing to brush his teeth with his back to the camera. Makes you wonder if there was something he didn't want us to see. You know what I mean. Same thing he ran to the room to grab his big ass coat to cover in BV4.

And believe me, BH editors know exactly when it's time to cut. Not first time at that rodeo for them.

Funny thing is that they know it's curious, and they let us know they know as well, lol.

Question mark indeed...

They had so much fun on that yacht. Even with JM being sick and basically sleeping through much of it. The fact that it was so peaceful and they felt so free allowed him to get the much needed rest and get some of his strength back.

And JK just being there with him. That's exactly what he wanted and needed.

And before I end this just one little observation:

This is them. Once again, having that big mattress and yet the two ending up so close, needing to touch.

Ending up like this:

[middlingmay]

Just finished my last shift before a week off work. Can't fucking wait, and now I don't have to.

So, especially since I've been a bit quiet on the posting lately, have some HCs of the buckies on vacation. As always, feel free to add your own!

They have WILDLY different ideas on how to relax.

John, obviously, loves the idea of sporting holidays: surfing, skiing, hiking, cycling - he even wants to try rock climbing. Gale torpedoes the latter as soon as he sees what it involves. Not unless he can charter a plane to fly right under where John plans on dangling above the earth by his fingertips.

Gale does like active holidays, but he likes conservation trips, or holidays where you visit a new place and help out, build/repair houses, establish gardens, that kind of thing.

They do both like getting to know the local culture though. They do loads of research beforehand on what tourist traps to avoid, and where the best places are as rated by locals. They also try to learn a few key phrases in the language of whatever country it is they go to. John isn't great at it, not like Gale, but he tries.

Apart! From Spanish. For some reason, he takes to Spanish like a duck to water. And Gale can't get his mouth around the sounds if his life depended on it. He never understood why John liked to hear him speak in other languages so much, but hearing John speak rhythmically in Spanish? Hoo boy.

They don't leave the hotel room for the full next day and night. When they finally emerge, Gale looks like the cat who got the whole damn dairy farm, and John looks dazed, bedazzled, and isn't sure what day it is.

They go to Spain pretty often, after that.

[lordgrimwing]

Marsupial au

[from this ask!]

The basics: everything is the same but the elves are marsupial and have pouches to carry around their babies!

Why would @nighttimepatrons and I make this au? Because it’s cute. Imagine little elflets trying to climb into their parents’ belly pouches to hide. Imagine the process of pouch-weaning an elflet who is really too big to be climbing in anymore. It’s just cute, ok?

Now, let’s talk about some elves and their pouches!

Nerdanel: Very roomy, very comfy. She’s had a lot of kids in there. Solid 8/10 (points deducted because occupants might get banged against rock she’s chiseling for her latest sculpture)

Feanor: Comfy place to curl up for a snooze but it gets a bit hot, and he will kick you out when he goes to the forge. 7/10

Maedhros: Excellent, so roomy, can easily hold two or more elflets at once, he’ll never bump against pointy table corners. 9/10 (some argue it’s too roomy)

Maglor/Celegorm/Caranthir: it’s fine, I guess, but why would you go in there when Maedhros is an option? 5/10 (at least Celegorm has good stories)

Curufin: “Leaving was the right thing to do, but I miss him sometimes. I miss all of them—who they were.” 3/10 (sample size of 1)

Ambarussar: The only things in those pouches are arrows. Unrated.

Glorfindel: A good place to hide for a few minutes or to peek out of during hikes to enjoy the view but he will evict you when he’s busy. 6/10

Erestor: Due to unfortunate childhood experiences, the only thing getting into this half-elf’s pouch is lent and yeast infections. 1/10 (Glorfindel’s trying to help)

Celeborn: He looks like the weak link during pouch-weaning, but it’s a trick. Grandpa will Not let you inside when mom says no more pouch. 7/10

Galadriel: No one’s dared to get in lately, but Celebrian reports that she was quite comfortable. 5/10 (points deducted for intimidation factor)

Celebrian: Cozy, a little tight with twins, very easy to fall asleep. 8/10

Gil-galad: Little Arwen’s claimed it as hers and only hers, so it mut be good. 7/10 (unfortunately she had to be pulled out after he fell at Sauron’s hands, which is very traumatic for an elflet)

Elrond: Much to his children’s confusion, he doesn’t have a pouch. No one in Melian’s line has one.

Marsupial clothing would be designed so that elflets have pouch access, so it isn’t an uncommon sight for little heads to suddenly poke out from between the folds of a robe, or for an elflet to start pulling at their parent’s clothes, trying to find the opening. Pants are a no-go when an elflet’s involved, there’s just no room to stretch.

Pouch hygiene is very important. A healthy pouch is a little moist and it should be regularly cleaned to prevent itchy yeast infections. Lent and dust can also cause irritation. Elrond gives Glorfindel salves to try to get Erestor to use in his crusty pouch so he doesn’t itch himself raw in his sleep.

There are some less fun parts, too, of course. Like the fact that itty bitty elflets might not be noticed if they fall out of the pouch, leaving them abandoned on the ground and too small to be alone for long. Or the way kidnappers can hold out a sack and some elflets will climb right in because it looks like a pouch. But most of this is happy! (outside of Erestor being relentlessly teased by his human playmates and Arwen being traumatized by Gil-galad’s death)

Oh, did I mention that Gil-galad, Elrond, and Celebrian are a threesome yet, because they are.

And kidnap fam totally happens. E+E like Maedhros’ pouch more than Maglor’s.

Ask me about fics that live rent-free in my head!

[vxdret-imagines]

Camping Trip Part 1

Where Y/N and gang decide to head up the trails for a camping trip! This is a friends -> lovers multipart series involving Scott and reader being stupid young adults who suck at sharing their feelings. Stiles and reader human solidarity! Enjoy the first part of this fic, I’m not sure how many there will be but I’m running with it. -Vx

Warnings/tags: (G), !slowburn!, AFAB reader

Word Count: 3k

~~~

If there’s a will, there’s a way. Somehow Stiles managed to convince you to come out on the trail with the pack for a camping trip. With a begrudging groan and a long roll of your eyes, you eventually conceded and told him “Fine.”

Now you were squeezed in the back of Stiles’ jeep with Lydia and Malia, whilst Scott rode shotgun upfront. All the while, you were internally contemplating making an excuse to get out of hiking the trail that led up to the campsite. It was stupidly long with plenty of rocks and vines to trip over, and the way you knew you’d be a sweaty panting mess made you sigh aloud. Malia heard it, looking over at you with a curious expression. “Y/N? Something up?” She sounded a little concerned, but that monotony she usually held was there. She was learning empathy, slowly but surely.

“No, no, nothing is wrong. I’m all good.” Your voice was exasperated slightly, leading Malia to cock a brow and look you up and down. “Just… I really don’t want to hike that trail. It’s easier for you guys, considering your super stamina.” A small laugh escaped your lips as you played off your doubt with a lighthearted joke. It was three or so miles uphill on the trail, and you weren’t the biggest fan of running uphill for long periods, let alone while carrying heavy bags. Malia hummed, her look becoming neutral once more. With a small nod she looked out the window. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, Stiles would always complain about the trail too at first. It’s all about pacing yourself.”  Looking at your bag in your lap, you softened a little with her reassurance. At least you wouldn’t be the only one having trouble. 

Upon arrival when you climbed out, you couldn’t help but stare at the trail just a little ways from the jeep. Pulling your second bag from the trunk of the jeep was the easy part. The running? Not even close. When tapped on the shoulder from behind, you turned to be meet with bright warm eyes. “Kira! You made it,” your voice was live with excitement as Kira smiled at you. Her bag was slung over her shoulder as she hugged you tightly. This girl was such a bright light and you couldn’t help but share it whenever she was around, proving so as you hugged her back with just as much vigour. Liam followed behind her with his own bag and tent, looking at the two of you. “Why are you guys so excited? Aren’t we about to hike uphill for an hour?” He sounded a bit confused, and likely shared the same dread as you with that look on his face. Kira pulled away, giving him a small glare at his pessimism.

“Oh come on, Liam. Once we’re there, we can set up our tents and get a fire going. Besides, you’ll be fine. It’s just three miles!” Her positivity lit a determined fire under you. As all of you headed to the trail, you reminded yourself that you could do it. It’s just three miles. You’ve got this Y/N. Just keep going, this is gonna be a cakewalk. That determination died out the closer you’d gotten to camp, the fire dwindling as you continued to replay the same words. Was the trail getting steeper? Ugh. Groaning internally, you pushed on for the last ten minutes of the hike, throwing your bags that felt like they were full of boulders to the ground of the campsite. 

A glance to Stiles would show him also in the same predicament, sweat coating his neck and his hair wet at the nape of his neck as he dropped his bags. On the other hand, Scott threw his arms up in a cheer. “Woohoo! We made it!” He exclaimed this with so much enthusiasm it made you laugh quietly. Maybe the hike was worth it. Scott then wrapped an arm around Stiles who looked incredibly pale aside from his flushed cheeks. “Come on, let’s get our tent set up.” Scott was still glowing with adrenaline from the run as Stiles shot him a glare, his voice dropping low. “Scott, I feel like I’m going to barf. Can we please wait like five minutes before any more physical activity?” Dripping with sarcasm as per usual.

“Awh, you’re no fun bro.” Scott’s tone was teasing before he looked across at everyone. By now, Lydia and Malia had begun to set up their tent. You were sharing one with Kira, while Liam demanded he had a stag tent since Mason immediately shot the invitation down. It was around 4pm now which meant there was still a few hours of daylight left, it also meant that you’d have plenty of time to hear the guys fuss over who’d light the fire while setting up your tent. Dragging your tent bag to it’s desired spot, Kira sparked up a quiet conversation with you.

“Y/N, have you told him yet?” She whispered, your head swiveling up to shoot her a glare. “Shhh! No, of course not…” Pulling the malet from your bag rather menacingly, Kira raised her hands up in playful defense. “Woah there, alright, I got it.” You and her shared a laugh as you pulled the studs from the bag. “Buttt… I think you should, he was staring at you the entire hike up. He had this look on his face like he was thinking hard. Stiles had to keep grabbing his attention.” 

He was.. what? Is she joking right now? “Haha, very funny Kira.” You say, a slight twinge to your voice as you hand her two of the studs. “I’m not joking. I swear.” Kira’s voice was quiet but now serious. She’s not kidding. Oh god, she’s getting that look. “Okay.. Was his look more concerned or thoughtful?” With that question Kira seemed to pause, before taking the malet from you. “When you phrase it like that, I’d have to say he looked like he was brooding.” She shrugged it off nonchalantly with a swift hammer to the stud. Seeing how it secured itself neatly in the ground, you ended up handing her the rest of the studs whilst you set the poles up for each one. 

Well now I guess I have to be careful. If I take that chance and it turns out Kira was wrong, there would be no turning back. Maybe Stiles would know something? But if he ended up telling Scott, it’d also mess things up. Boys are dumb. 

Setting the last pole up for the tent was a sitch. You ended up crawling inside with Kira to gossip a little more, etching out a plan for dinner when there were noises of the boys fueding over the fire drowning out your conversation. “And so it begins…” Kira trailed off, lightheartedly rolling her eyes as you giggled. “Should we go see for ourselves?” “Absolutely.”

Getting back out of the tent, you and Kira stood there to see Liam holding the matches away from Stiles while Scott stood with his arms crossed. The grin on his face reeked of amusement as Stiles tried to grab for the matches hopelessly. “You both know that there’s no hope for a fire without lighter fluid, right?” Lydia’s voice cut through the chaos as she held the red capped bottle up. Malia was smirking beside her as she saw Stiles’ look of defeat, turning to look at Lydia. “Good one.” 

Stiles clasped his hands together, beginning to plead with Lydia near pathetically. Liam on the other hand stuffed the matches into his pocket. You’d brought lighter fluid as well but with the way Stiles was so vehemently pleading, it was better to stay quiet. “Anyone hungry?” Scott chimed in, breaking up the chaos that had erupted over the fire and shifting the attention to multiple hungry stomachs. Kira had raised a hand, grinning widely. “I’m on cooking duty! First things first though, we’ll need more fire wood. Especially if we want the fire to last.”

A small nudge to your arm made you look over at Kira, as she winked at you before looking over her shoulder. Following her gaze, you saw Scott starting to pick up kindlewood. Realizing she’d meant for you to gather wood with him, you started to shake you head as she nudged you closer to him. “Heeeyyy, Scott.” You’d said, giving Kira a dirty look as she walked away with her head held high. “Do you uh.. Need any help?”

“Hey, yeah, that’d be great actually. I don’t really know how much we’ll need exactly but it’ll be alot. I saw a small tree just this way if you want to help me break it down?” The way Scott lit up didn’t fail to surpass you. From the way his expression brightened, to the way he’d stood up to address you, it made you feel relieved. Maybe even a little excited that he wanted to spend time with you. 

With a single nod, you stepped closer. “Lead the way.” You’d affirmed before beginning to walk alongside him. As you walked with him, you noticed him looking along the dirt trail. He seemed to have a different air about him, before he’d spoke up. “I actually went down this trail around three or four years ago.. Holds some pretty great memories for me. It leads back to the highschool about twenty minutes that way.” There was a nostalgic tone to his voice as he pointed in the direction of the school. “That’s why I know where to go, I know it’s pretty random, sorry..” A soft laugh escaped his lips as he looked up at you. A warmness eminated from him, like he was reminiscing over something that brought him fond memories. It was a glimpse into his emotions that you’d not seen before. 

“Don’t apologize, Scott. I’m glad you know the area, it makes me feel a little better.” You’d offered kind words, picking up a few large sticks along the side of the path. “If you want to talk about what you remember, I’d like to listen?” As you’d bent down to pick up some bramble, you noticed he’d stopped walking.

“It was around the time when I’d just been bitten. I was so naive back then, I actually thought Derek was the one who’d changed me.” A chuckle passed his lips before he continued. “It was also when Allison and I had started dating. We’d met up that day at the bus bay when she decided to take me somewhere as a surprise. Somewhere we could be alone, that’s what she told me. We ended up driving this way and wandering this exact trail. Spent pretty much all day here just talking. It was her birthday.” Scott turned to face you, smiling slightly still.

Your eyes widened, realizing what he meant. Allison… She’s been gone for around two years now. From what everyone says, she must’ve been pretty amazing. Especially considering how happy Scott looks whenever he mentions her. 

“Was it a good day? You look so bright talking about it, or her, I guess..” Taking a few more steps to stand beside him, you held the variety of sticks tightly in your arms. “It was one of the best days I had with her. I don’t think I’ve had a day like it since.” His tone was gentle, yet it was incredibly heartfelt, like a glowing light optimistically waiting at the end of a tunnel. It seemed like the warmth spread to you just from his eyes. That was always the way it went.

Whether Scott was happy, angry, upset, or stressed, his eyes were always a tell. They truly were the windows to his soul that displayed his vibrance so clearly. It was the first thing about him that captivated you. Whenever his eyes would change to the bright ruby when he shifted, it was like the window was pushed wide open. They amplified his very being, his power and aura. He was truly the most remarkable person you’d met, let alone the first supernatural. As your curiosity had turned into a crush, his eyes made you turn to jello. 

This time was no exception.

Those eyes that were so magnificent glancing toward you at this very moment expressed a rare vulnerability for him. Scott had opened up to you about a special memory for him on the very ground you two stood on. This place would hold new sentiment for the both of you. Yet you would never tell him how much it meant. Even if Kira begged you to spill your guts, or Lydia persuaded you toward confessing with little tips or ideas, you still couldn’t. Not when it would risk ruining your friendship with him that you held to your heart as if it were the most fragile feather, capable of being whisked into the wind with a single sentence. As if that sentence was so easy to say anyway. 

I like you, Scott.

Simple words that could shatter everything. ‘Simple’ didn’t even begin to explain your troubles.

“You know, from everything I hear, I really wished I could’ve met her.. Even now there’s still a lingering presence of her, like she’s still with us. Everyone keeping her memory alive means she’ll live on within each of us. In different ways, but she will.” Your voice is tender, offering your own vulnerability to the moment. However seeing Scott’s reaction only furthered your predicament.

Looking over to the small tree he’d mentioned for wood, Scott hummed in an appreciatory way. “I like that idea. That’s a pretty good way to think of it.” He grasped near the base of the tree, twisting and snapping it before picking up the fallen wood. “I think I’d want to make new memories for that reason. She’d want me to, cheering me on from whatever place she’s in.”

As you two brought back your gathered wood and kindle, Kira had begun cooking already when you threw some of the sticks into the fire. She looked up at you expectantly with a cheshire grin on her lips. “Sooo? How was it?” Her hand stilled in its stirring motion inside the pot, awaiting your reply as you kneeled beside her.

“I guess you can say we bonded a little. He told me about Allison, and it was like he’d opened up. Plus, we got quite a bit of wood. Win-win, right?” 

Kira nodded, using her spoon she was stirring with to point to the pot of boiling soup. There was an aroma of celery, rosemary, and garlic with the umami of beef in it. “I’d say that’s a win. Speaking of, Liam finally caved once Stiles got ahold of the lighter fluid… Which took the majority of the time you were gone. We’ve got about thirty minutes til’ this is all finished simmering.” She then stood from the dirt, placing the metal stirring spoon on a cloth before dusting her legs off. “Once it’s all finished, we can settle down and eat. Plus, that’s when we can really get a bonfire going.” Your expression turned upwards, smiling as you watched your best friend stand to go and grab more cooking supplies. “Sounds good, Kira. I’m gonna go work on setting up the inside of the tent, you make sure that Malia doesn’t dig in too early.” Shooting Malia a grin, her head tilted up as she responded “Hey! I heard that!” 

With a quiet laugh, you walked back to the tent, beginning to unwrap your sleeping bag with a moment of thought. When you and Scott were gathering spare wood, he looked so… Light. So carefree and happy. It was enough for you to sigh, absentmindedly scratching your arm. Scott seems to hold onto those good memories. I’m glad he shared them with me, maybe we can really make new ones together. With everyone here, I’m sure it’ll be easy. 

The longer you’d been in the tent arranging your side, you realized your arm was continuously getting itchier. Taking a look, your arm had an angry rash that was breaking out along where you’d held the wood earlier. Shit… You groaned under your breath. Of course this would happen within the first four hours of being at camp. Reaching for your bag and digging around, you retrieved the calamine lotion before spreading a generous amount along the poison oak rash. The skin was an angry red which soothed with the pale pink lotion. As soon as you’d finished inside the tent, it looked like dinner was finished outside, everyone aside from Lydia sitting around the fire. You plopped down between Kira and Stiles, noting how Malia and Liam looked like they were competing to finish their bowls as Kira handed you your own.

“Here you go. Oh ew, what happened?” Kira’s voice grew more nasally as she saw the calamine lotion. “What does it look like? I happened to pick up some poison oak. Maybe someone with regenerative abilities should’ve grabbed wood with Scott instead..” I chuckle under my breath, looking up at Scott to see how his eyebrows knitted together. “Hey, I had fun! It was nice to talk, especially where we’d went.” There was that winning smile. It’s so hard to stay mad at him. Damn.

Starting to eat your soup with Kira, you’d praised her for the amazing flavor. She’d made a simple veggie stew, but it was incredibly delicious. All the notes are tied together perfectly. By the time dinner was done, the fire was roaring, Stiles and Malia kicking off to their own spot with drinks in hand as you’d sat beside the fire. Kira had gone back to the tent and you’d lost sight of Scott and Lydia. As the heat from the fire hugged your skin, and the liquor on your tongue stung its way down, there was a different contented feeling. Your friends' laughter and the quiet sounds of a radio in the background were enough to drown everything else out while you lost yourself in thought once more. 

[vonpharma]

w[h]ip wednesdaaaay

sorry for the hiatus! i finally just bit the bullet and set an alarm on my phone so i won't forget to post lol. here's a small preview from day 5 of sicktember~

Hoisting his unconscious sister out of the office stairwell was not exactly how Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth pictured his day going.

In his time alive he’d seen quite a few strange things go down in that stairwell. It was practically a second home to him, after all—twelve flights up, twelve flights down, it made nearly everyone cringe when he’d tell them how much of his day was spent hiking to and from his high-rise office. He probably could’ve benefitted from relocating, but it was honestly very convenient, getting all his cardio in before even his morning cup of tea. 

Yes, he’d seen a lot of things going on in that stairwell. Highly dramatic personal phone calls. Potentially shady dealings involving discontinued snacks from the vending machine. Overworked interns sneaking away for naps. Larry, once. 

One thing Miles had never seen upon these stairs, though, was Franziska. 

When they were children, it was a tradition, of sorts. They’d arrive in front of the foggy elevator doors—it didn’t matter where they were—and Miles would instinctively clench his fists, making the best attempts to muster all his courage. Back then, he was small, and he felt even smaller standing poised before the massive shape of them, his murky reflection refusing to crystallize in tandem with his nerve. Franziska, ever the little empath, would grab his hand tight in hers and drag him to the stairs. After tapping her foot performatively for a few seconds and complaining of how long the elevator took to arrive, we might as well use them with the foolishly slow descent of that foolishly inferior contraption.

Of course, children grow up. Miles never had a childhood to grow out of, but Franziska always did the most to sprint leaps and bounds ahead of him. At some point in their adolescence, she had stopped taking the stairs with him. There were no hard feelings, of course—but she had places to be and was more often than not in stilettos and pencil skirts. I’ll meet you at the top, she’d always say, and then grimace at him with her face all red when he (always, effortlessly, without breaking a sweat) arrived at their destination first.

The red on her face is a different shade, this time. A far less fortunate one, it would seem. Despite everything, Franziska is there in the stairwell with him once more. Only this time, she is not dragging him lovingly up the incline, but holding white-knuckle onto the railing as she makes her best attempt to climb, knees wobbling with the effort, drenched in sweat. Miles can see her forearms through the now-transparent sheen of her blouse, and despite how she’s perspiring, the poor girl is shaking like a leaf.

He stops there, at the top of the grouping of stairs that she’s making her best attempt to scale. Rigid, brow furrowed in concern, mouth firm. 

“Franziska?” says Miles. “Are you… quite alright?”

Her head, previously dipped toward the floor—watching her feet, nervous that they might fail her—snaps up to face him. The way she bears her teeth is somewhere halfway between a warning and a plea for help, pained and angry all the same. For a moment his blood runs cold as he remembers the last time he’d seen that look—blood coagulating on his car upholstery, a horrible scream echoing in his ears, tear-tracks refusing to dry on his cheeks. 

Curiously, her whip is unholstered, coiled in her free hand. As if she were announcing to the world that her guard is up, don’t come near. Despite the acid-drenched sheen of her glassy eyes, she maintains her hesitation in cracking it at Miles—instead just pointing, with the leather shaking haphazardly in her hand.

“You… don’t you—don’t you dare—!”

It’s all Miles can do not to visibly cringe when he hears her voice. A truly miserable-sounding affair, like bogie wheels struggling on miscut gravel. Come to think of it, Franziska had sounded a little croaky yesterday morning when she joined him for tea, and she had taken a little more honey than usual. But she didn’t seem ill otherwise, certainly not to this extent…

Miles isn’t really sure what to do, so he just kind of stands there awkwardly, lordly above her all the same. She manages to get herself up one single step before her knees buckle entirely, and Miles is already shuffling down to meet her, his body seemingly moving all on its own. 

Franziska’s a small fire in his arms as he catches her. Every square inch of her skin is scorching hot, singing Miles’ grip even through layers upon layers of perfectly pressed ruffles. In sleep, still, the tremors take her, and she’s breathing heavy and hard through her mouth. As he’s arranging her to something resembling bridal style in his arms, he thanks his lucky stars that his sister is such a small thing, hopes she will forgive him even for thinking so. Like this, especially, she looks so much smaller than usual.

[lorre-verie]

◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ Modern Avatar Highschool AU A-Z (Pt. 2: H-N)

6:96 ───|────── 9:69

you are now reading a post by lorre

warning: use of swear words

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4 | masterlist

⌲ H for Hobbies and Hates (What are their hobbies and what do they hate doing?)

neteyam: his hobbies include; archery, calligraphy, hiking, canoeing, skiing, camping, rock climbing, basically almost every outdoor sport that requires amazing core strength. And chess. Don’t tell me this man doesn’t like chess. He’s good at a lot of things he tries, but he especially loves outdoor activities. If you don’t like going outside then i have some bad news for you babes cause he goes out almost every weekend. morning walks/runs everyday. AND he’s a genius at chess because of course he is. Once Ao’nung challenged him to a match and lost like 3 minutes in because he got too cocky. Neteyam had the smuggest look on his face for the rest of the day. I also think he likes sketching small doodles messily with a pen when he’s bored.

He claims to not hate anything, but his siblings know he’s traumatised by yoga (i have a backstory for this), so don’t ask him to participate in anything like that cause he’ll decline immediately (but politely.)

kiri: Girl loves the outdoors like Neteyam but not so much all the physical activities. She likes swimming but only in lakes and rivers and not public pools cause she’s disgusted by the piss and the smell. She also loves thrifting her clothes and cutting them up and making them into personalised outfits for her own style. She lives for aesthetics and probably has a scrapbook and loves journaling about all the plants and unique animals she finds on her little walks. She and Tsireya also have a podcast (that Lo’ak and Rotxo religiously listen to). The only thing she really doesn’t like is being in loud places with too many hyper people like music festivals, concerts, basically just doing anything that involves being in large uncoordinated crowds.

lo'ak: he does basic rebel boy stuff like skateboarding, playing games on his phone (be real he’s too broke to have a PC), yo-yoing, and since he can run real fast he likes volleyball, tennis, badminton, anything that requires you to be quick on your feet cause he’s awesome at those things. He hates anything that requires you to use your brain (except chess he’s actually kinda good at it surprisingly, but not as good as Ao’nung or Neteyam). He had an ant farm once when he was like 6 and cherished it so much but then he dropped the frame and they all scattered in the house and it earned him the spanking of his life (everyone kept finding ants in their shit for the next 4 months).

ao'nung: as you know by now, he’s a chess douchebag. He’s amazingly freakishly good at it (like math) and if he meets new people and there's a chessboard conveniently nearby he’ll challenge them to it just because he wants to humiliate them a little. He doesn’t actually like it that much, he just likes beating people using his smarts for once. Other than that, he loves basketball, volleyball. He hates walking in forests cause he hates insects (always carries mosquito spray around).

rotxo: he likes writing stories and photography since he’s a literature lover and the yearbook editor. Sometimes he’ll go with Kiri on her walks and they have fun photoshoots of little animals, plants or her. He’s so good with a camera, he’s often the guy people give the phone to, to take pictures for their instagram. He doesn’t like loud places like Kiri and i headcanon he’s actually claustrophobic. He’s okay with most activities.

tsireya: enjoys public speaking hence the podcast, loved cracking jokes as a kid and still does now, likes to listen to a bunch of different genres of music, learns a few dances and likes making aesthetic graphics on her laptop as well as edits of her favourite tv show characters. She’s alright with physical activity. terrified of heights so anything that requires her to get above 20 floors of height is a no no.

⌲ I for Income (Do they have a part time job and what are they like when working?)

neteyam: Yes he does, he works at an animal shelter. Originally he was a volunteer but then the owner of said shelter thought he was doing a great job and decided they’d start paying for it. He refused a couple times but the owner insisted. The animal shelter has a few birds, some dogs, cats, hamsters, one snake but it escaped and they’ve never seen it since. He remembers all the feeding times and schedules and memorises any allergies, difficulties, injuries, etc and he’s just great with the animals, he adores them. He also takes the dogs on walks often.

kiri: she’d probably be a barista at starbucks, 70% of the time she’s the voice taking orders at the drive through. Dislikes dealing with karens and annoying people cause unlike classes she can’t argue with them else she’d get fired, but it’s great for practice calming herself. Enjoys mixing her own drinks, HATES the cleaning process after closing everyday. Definitely makes tiktoks about customers in the backroom when she's bored

lo'ak: the guy that sells snacks and drinks at the movie theatre. He steals some popcorn from time to time cause he’s hungry but he’s really good at convincing people to buy stuff. Super friendly and never fails to get people to buy more snacks or upgrade their popcorn box size. “Yo bro I think you and your girl need a little more popcorn than that, don’t you think? I can hook you up if you’re interested.” (said deal was always available but he knows people never read the little advertisements that flash on the tv menus)

ao'nung: lifeguard at the beach. Enjoys his time tanning and swimming around leisurely, (the girls love him and go to the beach every weekend just to see him) and it’s a pretty calm and easy job, nobody usually has any problems. Except for one time when a girl faked passing out to get him to do CPR on her but it didn’t work cause he knew what she was doing and claimed to not know how to do CPR. Instead he said he’d call her parents and she miraculously woke up the very next second.

rotxo: doesn’t have a job he sleeps a lot after school (hence the submitting assignments at 3:33am)

tsireya: she’s a babysitter and she does so incredibly well with kids, she’s so kind to them and sometimes lets them stay up a little (JUST A LITTLE) past their bedtime because she was once in their shoes and knows that sleeping at 7.15pm when they were supposed to sleep at 7pm doesn't make too big of a difference. they love her and she always gets callbacks from happy satisfied parents.

⌲ J for Jealous Of Your Lunch (or not) (What food do they eat during lunch?)

neteyam: he brings a homemade sandwich with lettuce, egg, some kinda meat and some sauce. Packs it himself, even leaves a little encouraging note for himself so he can read it later on (lo’ak calls him a dork). Doesn’t have a lunch bag, just puts it in a reusable plastic container (reduce reuse recycle guys). He usually just brings water but he’ll bring organic freshly squeezed orange juice on good days.

kiri: she steals the sandwiches/paninis from work and just microwaves them the next day to bring to school because she can't be bothered to actually make a homemade meal for herself. Sometimes she’ll pack gummy bears stolen from tuk’s “secret stash” or a small pringle can. Occasionally brings an extra stolen sandwich to give to tsireya or rotxo. brings cold water in her hydro flask or hot tea sometimes.

lo'ak: bro brings chips. Just a bag of chips. Takis if he can get them but he always eats chips during lunch and it concerns tsireya a lot because??? That's a whole lot of salt he consumes everyday. To make matters worse he keeps buying coke from the vending machine. Sometimes he gets school lunch with rotxo (i feel like they’d be chill buddies but only if ao’nung wasn’t around cause he kinda drags the attention away from rotxo unintentionally).

ao'nung: his family is rich so he just orders food online for himself. Sometimes if he’s feeling up to it he’ll treat all his friends to a meal (yes, including lo’ak, kiri and neteyam) but not that often else he’d be completely broke. You will find him and tsireya waiting at the school doors for the dude bringing their food to get there during the first 5 minutes of lunch.

rotxo: he eats school lunch. It’s not that bad in pandora high but it's still not the best. Always grabs rice and some form of protein, always gets chocolate pudding but he thinks chocolate milk sucks ass mainly cause of all the powder in it. he also has trauma of pizza from eating an expired school slice of pizza cause after that he projectile vomited all over the floor during a presentation and the only reason he’s lived it down is because nobody knows that it was him that did that (npc behaviour im so sorry rotxo)

tsireya: orders food with Ao’nung, definitely is the girl that offers to buy drinks for everyone (u gotta pay her back though…she’d be too nice to ask if you forgot but her brother WILL track you down and charge you interest every day that you don’t pay up. you do NOT want secret maths genius ao’nung keeping track of your debt everyday and staring you down in the hall menacingly).

⌲ K for Kick Off The Year (What are they like back at school after the holidays?)

neteyam: he’s actually always ticked off at school after the holidays, even on mondays just after the weekend. he enjoys his relaxation time where he doesn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances and at home where he can just sit back and chill. if it’s been more than a week since he’s been to school expect him to be upset for another week. he won’t make it obvious but his handwriting definitely becomes more aggressive and it’ll always look like he’s glaring at someone when he’s just looking at them. (im listening to she knows by ne-yo while writing this and ngl an upset neteyam….i wouldn’t mind that too much 🤭 hell someone remind me to write headcanons of neteyam when he’s upset please oml i can just see it now)

kiri: definitely annoyed about going back to school but let’s be real who wouldn’t be? She’ll get used to the schedule and everything after like a day or two of school. she enjoys hearing the teacher’s sighs as they come back on monday, seeing her sitting front row ready to point out all the mistakes they’ll make after the weekend.

lo'ak: bro acts like he hasn’t been to school in YEARS. He’ll sludge through the doors of school like goop and just be dead as hell. if you talk to him he’d sound like a dying goat. He does however light up when he sees Tsireya. that’s really the only good part of going back to school for him.

ao'nung: he never usually has a dull day at school and he’s pretty chill with it. Once he steps through those doors he’ll have people crowding him asking him about the new haircut he got during the holidays and the fact he looks more fit (may or may not be true)

rotxo: you’ll never know what this manz is feeling. His face is just 🙂constantly. He’s definitely happy to see kiri again but besides that you would never know if he’s happy or upset by going back to school.

tsireya: girl is excited as hell. super excited to tell her friends about the holiday to the maldives she took, super excited to run for president again (she’s actually not supposed to but the teachers love her so they just let her and she always ends up winning), super excited to get back to teaching the little kids ballet at the preschool building every thursday, super excited to talk to kiri and lo’ak again. you might think she’s one of those girls who peaks at highschool but you're wrong because she’s been peaking since she was BORN.

⌲ L for Locker (What’s their locker look like?)

neteyam: locker probably plain as hell, he doesn’t pay attention to it much. Maybe a calendar pasted on the inside as well as some reminder notes but that’s it. His books are neat, but i don’t think i needed to include that detail cause with neteyam everything is neat (except the bitchy attitude on mondays)

kiri: she probably has fairy lights in there and if you ask her how tf she’ll say magic, cause there’s literally nowhere to plug the goddamn thing in. she has polaroid photographs of the whole friend group pasted onto the door and has leaf stickers decorating them.

lo'ak: he has stickers of random shit in there, like a mcdonalds sticker, sticker from someone’s kpop album, sticker of a skateboard and a star wars sticker. used to have a pic of tsireya but took it down after one of her friends laughed at him in the hall. he has extra hair ties for tsireya in case she ever needs it.

ao'nung: has a mirror in there. Like the door is just a whole ass mirror when he opens it up. that's it. idk i just feel like he’d stick a mirror onto it, that just seems like what he’d do. always wipes the mirror in the morning to keep it shiny.

rotxo: also has photographs of the friend group and a childhood photo of him and ao’nung where he kisses ao’nung on the forehead (ao’nung still hasn’t noticed it to this day since rotxo put it up) and also has extra batteries for his camera in case he needs it.

tsireya: now this is the whole reason i put L for Locker. her locker is magnificent??? she has a little heart mirror that sticks to the door, a box of tissues and some emergency items in case any of her friends need something (which include but are not limited to; pads, tampons, a mini power bank, perfume, bubblegum, mints, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, glue, scissors, extra sheets of paper, a stapler, a hole puncher, etc).

the moment she got her locker key she DIY-ed it and made a cute keychain with her initials on it so nobody could mistake it for others, and people often drop little letters to her anonymously asking for something or a change in the school or a suggestion since she’s the president, or even love letters sometimes so she created a mini letter box and attached it beneath where the hole was so everything wouldn’t just fall to the floor when she opened the locker.

on the door there’s like a little slot she made for her hairbrush and some chapstick yk just in case. probably sticks glow in the dark stars on the top of the locker so she peeks into the locker before opening it just to admire them. oh and instead of post it notes to remind her about stuff, she has a mini eraser board on the door below the mirror.

⌲ M for Morning Routine (What’s their morning routine before school?)

neteyam: he gets up literally 4 hours before school starts, brushes his teeth, goes on a walk/run, showers, makes breakfast for himself and packs lunch for later, puts on a hoodie and cargo pants, and then he just lays on his bed watching youtube videos and/or studying. He doesn’t even need to wake up 4 hours before he just does it because he wants extra chill time before school. Has to wear earplugs when he reaches to 2 hour mark because of lo’aks loudass alarm.

kiri: she definitely gets up earlier then lo’ak, probably wakes up an hour and 30 minutes before school starts since their house is like 30 minutes away from their school (15 if there's no traffic). She can finish getting ready in like 25 minutes and she sits on the couch scrolling through social media while waiting for lo’ak’s dumbass to get up. Grabs a starbucks sandwich and airfries it for the amount of time that Neytiri takes to wake him up.

lo'ak: gets up an hour before school starts, alarm on max volume blaring into his ears (and been doing that for the past hour) and making the whole household deaf. rushes literally everything, forgets to bring at least 1 thing each day, and scrambles out the door after 30 minutes jumping into the backseat of Jake’s SUV.

ao'nung: he gets up 2 hours before school starts. their house is about the same distance from school as the sully’s, but idk i just feel like their house is huge and it takes up 3x maybe 4x the space a normal house would. he probably has his own horse or something, and tends to it every morning. if he could he would probably ride a horse to school idk. he does normal stuff, i dunno what you would want me to elaborate about besides the stupid little sibling fights him and reya have every morning.

rotxo: he wakes up an hour before school and spends 30 minutes getting ready and probably just eats cereal everyday for breakfast. spends the longest time taking care of his hair and brushing it out making sure it looks flawless. before he gets going he makes sure have this specific conversation with ao’nung over text: “u otw bro?” “yea bro” “k bro” “k” just because they think its funny and they’ve been doing it for years.

tsireya: gets up at the same time as ao’nung because their rooms are next to each other and his alarm is obnoxiously loud. has a whole skincare routine she religiously follows every morning, her bathroom is just stocked full with a variety of different products that she will use. she will make pancakes for herself and for ao’nung if he hasn’t eaten anything yet, and she always takes a pic to put it on her instagram highlights of all the pancakes she’s ever made. she also has her own horse but ao’nung usually tends to it for her so she doesn’t need to worry much.

⌲ N for No Cap (How up to date are they with today’s slang?)

neteyam: he’d know a lot of it because of lo’ak but would rarely use it. he speaks properly almost constantly, even over text. he does use abbreviations like wrud wya lmfao noyb stfu wsg stuff like that (if u didn’t understand any of that then ur just old i don't make the rules). If he’s dating sb that's a whole different story tho he’d probably send like 4 paragraphs professing his undying everlasting infinite love and passion for his s/o.

kiri: definitely knows all the words, all the insults, all the abbreviations. even more than lo’ak. would not use words like pop off queen or slay though because she thinks it doesn’t fit with her aesthetic. Her way of texting kinda mad tho cause she’ll text like “yo u got the math notes?” and then she’ll follow immediately with “Appreciate it, thanks.” with correct grammar and everyones so fed up with it. An even worse example is “Hi, what are you doing currently?” and then she’ll say “k cool” like wtf do you want, woman??

lo'ak: knows a lot and uses it in everyday conversation like he’s the type of person to say lol and lmao in real life. nothing special to say that you wouldn’t expect from a man of this caliber.

ao'nung and rotxo: had to combine these mfs for this one cause they’re like the same. they both like saying L and W over text but not irl cause it's kinda cringe. pretty normal when talking in real life but they do know all the slang. partially cause lo’ak will use a lot of it during lunch together.

tsireya: absolutely, she knows it all. she’s the most active on social media out of all the avatar teens, consistently uses new slang and introduces it to her friends. she’s the it girl, what more can i say?

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4 | masterlist

dang i finally got to finish this 😭 so happy to finally have another part out. This series will have 2 more parts from O to T and U to Z! In case u want to see more of my works, my masterlist is in the link above.

taglist: @calums-betch (im so sorry this took so long 😭)

another thing: i would like 2 make it known that again i am accepting requests! please view the rules in my navigation (link in my desc) before requesting anything btw. and also i will mention again the hashtag specifically for modern avatar au content that any other creator can use freely (modern jc avatar au)

okay thats all, tysm for reading and have a wonderful day!

[revenantlore]

. Kiss Me With Your Fist wip introduction .

featuring @reininginthefirewriting ‘s vespera

a prequel to crave the fiction [character edits to be added at a later time]

Java Elliot, always on the precipice of danger and poor decisions, finds himself on a promising path of self-improvement while living with his brother Chai.

As he explores college majors and seeks a more stable job, Java's plans take a detour when he encounters Colt Hannigan—a captivating yet dangerous man who leads him astray.

Drawn into Colt’s twisted life of tantalizing drugs and criminal activity, Java is an inadvertent witness to an excess of violence and endures it at the end of Colt’s fist more nights than not.

Afraid to escape at the chance Colt might come after him, or worse, Java grapples with choices that endanger his hard-fought progress and continues to place not only his life but also his closest friendships in jeopardy.

characters :

Java Elliot —

Java can weave a lie so plausible even he could fall for it and believe it to be true, to the point that he sometimes questions his memory. But it keeps him safe and it keeps him sane, so why stop now when he’s already dug himself this deep?

likes simple things like leftover pizza and good music . could make a living off of lying if there was ever a need for it . would rather be at a concert than almost anywhere else . uses his friends as pillows . regularly drinks iced tea . too good at board games for anyone to enjoy playing because they know they’ll lose . prefers thrifting over buying new . collects vinyls and CDs and has a wide range of taste in music . not sure what he wants to pursue in life so he stagnates and jumps aimlessly from one project to another

Chai Elliot —

Chai has a busy enough life on their own without having to worry about their younger brother, but someone had to step up and keep Java safe from himself and the dangerous crowd he’s gotten himself caught up with. They still make time for their college courses and occasional hookups when time allows, but sometimes … sometimes Chai wishes they didn’t have to put their plans on hold to make sure Java doesn’t get himself killed.

loves dinosaurs and is pursuing a career as a museum curator . likes to hike, climb trees, and travel but seldom has the opportunity . prefers nonfiction books, learning the history of our planet, and watching documentaries . skirts and loose button-up shirts are essential to achieving peak gender balance . can’t convince them that black coffee and warm buttered toast is a treat and a perfect breakfast . memes? memes . flirty and handsy and not afraid of public displays of affection, no matter how much on display . could nap all day if given the chance

Colt Hannigan —

Prone to making bad choices, it’s no surprise that Java finds himself hand-in-hand with the son of one of the most dangerous men in his neighborhood. Charming and manipulative, Colt isn’t a man anyone should get involved with, and Java will come to learn he’s not alone in making that mistake

quick to anger and prone to violence . possessive and strategic . always gets what he wants . wears a chain necklace . collects antiques said to be worth thousands . psychology major and uses his knowledge to his advantage . appearance and fashion are important, for him and his partners . gourmet cuisine is the only acceptable menu . molds his partners into what he needs and wants them to be

London Elliot —

Too young to truly understand what is going on in her brother’s life, London remains oblivious and carefree … at least as far as familial drama goes. She has her own struggles with anxiety and selective mutism, finding solace in reading and ballet led by her instructor and favorite person, Vespera.

pastels and rainbows . observant and perceptive . great adoration for nature and animals . often found with a paintbrush in hand, but she likes to dabble in all creative art mediums . aspires to help people when she’s older . collects leaves and petals, likes to lay in the grass and observe the sky . love for ballet stems from its ability to express her emotions non-verbally

Vespera Cordova Ramirez —

Best friend and confidant, Vespera is always there to support Java and occasionally turns a blind eye to his choices, something that having a chaotic brother like Matias has inadvertently prepared her for

lives and breathes music . expresses her love for her Colombian heritage through cooking . far from being a stranger to engaging in casual hookups . a contradiction of ballet and skateboarding . wishes to better the world for her disabled students . conceals the hurt of a past unknown . intensely protective of those she allows herself to love . unapologetically herself . knows sign language . snarky comebacks and a sharp wit

[strangerstilinski]

SELENOPHILES OF BEACON HILLS | Teen Wolf Rewrite

Stiles Stilinksi/Original Female Character

chapter ten

fic summary; after an already traumatic evening involving the unfortunate discovery of a gruesome scene, amber is convinced to hike through the woods with her two best friends in search of the other half of a dead body. but it's not as if she could ever say no.. not when stiles looked at her like that.

chapter word count; 11,607

chapter notes; with both the police and hunters on his tail, derek attempts to lay low. scott stresses when someone new reveals they’ve figured out his secret. and amber and stiles, as always, are just along for the ride.

masterlist

c h a p t e r t e n

wolf's bane

"Oh, god! Is she really close?" Amber asked loudly, refusing to check the mirrors to get a gauge on where Kate's SUV was behind them. Her knuckles were white from her tight grip on the steering wheel and her right hand throbbed dully in protest at the flexed muscles.

"She's literally right behind us!" Scott told her from the passenger seat, "You need to go faster!"

"Much faster!" Stiles reiterated from the back seat.

She whined a pitiful noise but proceeded to press her foot down harder on the gas pedal as she increased their speed. She dropped her right hand to shift gears and cut the wheel sharply to the left, the tires of the car squealing as they rounded a turn and careened between two large buildings. She up-shifted between gears as they took off again.

"I still don't know why neither one of us is driving when we arguably have the most experience. And we would definitely be going faster than this." Scott stated anxiously, leaning toward the driver's seat to peek at the Camaro's speedometer.

"Because Derek doesn't trust either of you enough to drive his car, okay? Now stop distracting me!" She snapped, her eyes hyper focused on the pavement in front of her as they raced through the area near the train depot.

"Amber, I really don't think you're grasping the concept of a car chase here!" Stiles critiqued from the backseat, reaching forward to rest a hand over the leather on the right side of the driver's seat.

"If I go any faster, I'm going to crash and kill us!" She told him, pressing down harder on the gas pedal and increasing their speed by another small increment.

"Well, if you don't go faster, they're going to kill us!" Stiles shouted, nudging her shoulder with his hand.

Her foot lowered onto the gas pedal that much more and she shifted between gears again, huffing an anxious breath when the car's engine revved and they sped up.

"They're gone." Stiles announced suddenly.

Her eyes finally flicked over to her side mirror to look out at the darkness behind them and her shoulders sagged in relief at the absence of headlights in the reflection.

"Where did they go?" She asked in confusion, letting up on the gas and down-shifting between gears as she allowed the car to slow incrementally.

Stiles clicked on his walkie-talkie from the backseat and Sheriff Stilinski's voice sounded out over the scratchy radio.

"All units. Suspect is on foot, heading into the Iron Works."

"Shit! Do you think the hunters know that now, too?" Amber questioned superfluously.

She took a hard right and turned in the direction of the old Iron Works building, speeding past a number of the many abandoned warehouses before she took one more sharp turn. She spotted a large open doorway in the side of the building that was once used for deliveries and she's cut the wheel sharply, tires squealing loudly again as they turned into the building.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Scott yelled suddenly, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing over into the back to sit with Stiles.

Amber slammed on the brakes as she, too, spotted Derek squatting down behind a large piece of equipment. As the tires squealed in protest, Stiles reached across and into the front seat to swing the door passenger open for Derek.

"Get in! Get in!" Amber yelled, heart pounding as she watched Derek race to the vehicle through a spray of bullets.

As soon as he was inside the car, she shifted gears and slammed her foot down on the gas pedal again, taking off while a hunter that she couldn't see shot at the moving vehicle rapidly with an automatic weapon.

"What part of 'laying low' don't you understand!" Scott yelled at Derek as they sped back out of the building and Amber took them in the opposite direction.

"Dammit! I had him!" Derek yelled angrily, slamming his hand down on the dashboard.

"Who!" Amber yelled.

"The Alpha?" Stiles piped in frantically from the backseat.

"Yes!" Derek snapped, "He was right in front of me and the friggin' police showed up!"

"Woah, hey- They're just doing their jobs." Stiles defended immediately.

Amber turned her head just in time to catch Derek shoot Stiles a sharp glare before she refocused her eyes on the road.

"Yeah." Derek snapped in annoyance, "Thanks to someone who decided to make me the most wanted fugitive in the entire state."

Amber tightened her hands around the steering wheel, "A lie which I tried to get us all out of, if you both recall-" She started, eyes flicking up to glare at her friends in the rearview mirror, "But no, instead you both decided to give statements that directly contradicted mine and-"

"Can-can we seriously get past that?" Scott asked from the backseat, "I made a dumbass mistake. I get it!"

"Yeah, you've made a couple of those recently!" She snapped back, feeling guilty as soon as the words had left her mouth. It was a low-blow considering the groveling and heartfelt apology he had already given her for his behavior the day before.

"Alright! Alright-" Stiles interjected before turning his attention on Derek, "How did you find him?"

Derek didn't respond and Amber shifted her eyes over to the reluctant look on his face for a second before turning her attention back to the road, "Derek, c'mon." She urged.

"Can you try to trust us for like, half a second?" Scott snapped, leaning forward from the backseat.

"Yeah!" Stiles agreed, leaning forward in his own seat to stick his out face between Amber and Derek, "All of us."

Derek shot him another dark look and Stiles retreated into the backseat again, "Or just them," He conceded, "I'll be back here."

Derek sighed, turning his head in Amber's direction as he spoke, "Look, the last time I talked to my sister, she was close to figuring something out. She found two things. The first was a guy named Harris."

"Mr. Harris?" Amber repeated in confusion.

Stiles threw himself forward in his seat again to peer around Scott to look at Derek, "Our Chemistry teacher?"

"Why him?" Scott asked.

"I-I don't know yet." Derek told them.

After a few seconds to silence, Amber's eyes flicked over to Derek again, "Okay. So, what was the second thing she found?"

"It's some kind of symbol." He pulled a folded-up piece of paper out of the pocket of his jacket and opened it to show it to Scott and Stiles.

"What? What's the symbol?" Amber asked her friends immediately, her own eyes on the road.

"Uh.." Stiles said quietly, him and Scott remaining silent for a tense moment.

"What?" Derek asked them sharply, "You know what this is?"

"What is it?" Amber repeated frantically, not enjoying being left out.

"I've.. Seen it on a necklace." Scott announced as he leaned back in his seat, "Allison's necklace."

"No fucking way." Amber said in annoyed disbelief as she lowered her foot down on the gas.

It seemed, all roads lead back to the Argents.

Amber intentionally took the long way back into town and dropped Stiles off at home first, looping back to Scott's house afterward. When the car was empty aside from Amber and Derek, she turned to him as she pulled the Camaro back out onto the road.

"Okay, so. Jason is on shift until three o'clock tomorrow afternoon. When he gets home he usually just takes a shower and crawls into bed though-" She explained as she drove, "He's getting off a twenty-seven hour shift and he doesn't sleep well during down time at the station, so he'll probably be dead to the world until at least five on Thursday morning-"

"Why are you telling me this?" Derek interrupted.

She turned her head and looked at him dumbly, "Because you're going to hide at my house until we figure things out." She stated obviously.

Derek shook his head, "No."

"Uh, yes." She refuted, "Where else are you gonna go?"

"I don't know. But it doesn't matter, I'm not going to lay low at your house, Amber. I'll find something." Derek stubbornly persisted.

"Derek, please," She pleaded quietly, "C'mon it's not a big deal, okay? You can't be wandering around with both the Argents and the police looking for you. Be reasonable."

He sighed in frustration, knowing that she was right but not wanting to admit it.

"Derek-" She singsonged quietly, "You know you're gonna give in. C'mon, it'll only be for a little while, okay? Then you can go back to brooding all by your handsome-self in whatever dark and dreary crash pad your little heart desires."

"Fine." He finally grumbled, pointing to a side road a few blocks from her house and gesturing for her to take the turn.

She followed his direction and turned onto the road slowly, looking over at him in question.

"Park the car back there," He told her, nodding at a small alleyway that led to the parking lot behind what had once been an antique shop.

Once the car was parked behind the building, she climbed out of the car and tossed Derek the keys. He caught them easily and she grinned in response to his reflexes as they began to head in the direction of her house.

"Jason made a ton of avgolemono soup this morning before he went into work. I ate some for dinner and there's way more left than we need-" She told him excitedly, "It's really good and it was my yaya's recipe." She shivered violently in the night air as she spoke, "I'll warm some up for you before bed. You'll love it."

Derek shrugged out of his jacket, "Sounds fine." He told her blankly, dropping the heavy weight of his leather jacket over her shoulders without another word.

She huddled into the coat gratefully, sighing at the warmth it still held from Derek's own body heat.

It only took a few minutes for them to reach the house and as soon as they were inside, she gave him back his jacket and bounded into the kitchen to heat up some of the leftover soup. Derek followed her into the kitchen warily, looking around them as if he didn't quite believe that her brother wasn't about to walk around a corner and catch him in their house.

He leaned against the counter beside the refrigerator silently, his eyes tracing over the pictures and slips of paper that cluttered the surface.

There were a handful of photographs magnetized to the door. One of eight year old Scott, Stiles, and Amber grinning gap toothed at the camera as they huddled together on the dock at the lake. Another that her mom had taken of Amber sitting on Jason's shoulders precariously as she reached for a basketball that he'd managed to get stuck in the gutters along the roof. A picture of their parents looking up and smiling happily at the camera as they planted vegetables in the back garden. Ten year old Amber dressed as a firefighter for Halloween and laughing gleefully as she sprayed her dad behind the camera with icy water from the hose.

Also magnetized to the surface was her recent Chemistry test, where her brother had proudly hung it when he'd found it abandoned in a pile of junk on the dining table. It had been pinned up in between Jason's work schedule and their ever-growing weekly grocery list.

Amber silently watched in the corner of her eye as Derek studied each of the pictures, papers, and receipts littering the surface while she warmed the soup on the stovetop.

Once the soup was steaming and letting off an appetizing smell, she flicked the burner off and poured it into a bowl. She grabbed a large spoon and settled the food onto the counter with a flourish, gesturing for Derek to take a seat at one of the bar stools.

"Okay," She told him when he finally sat down, "I'm gonna go shower real quick, but I'll get you something to sleep in from Jason's room and leave it on my bed." She started to leave but paused in the doorway to the kitchen, "I don't know where you're hiding the rest of your clothes, but leave those ones in the hallway and I'll throw them in the laundry with a load of my stuff so they'll be clean by tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Sure." He nodded, eyes dropping down to the bowl in front of him before flicking back up to her.

"Cool." She smiled, "I'll leave you to it then."

She ran upstairs and dug through her brother's closet until she emerged with a pair of comfortable looking sweats and an old fire station tshirt. She did as she promised and left the items folded in a pile on the edge of her bed before going into the bathroom and showering quickly. She changed into pajamas and brushed her teeth before making her way back out into the hall.

The floor was free of any clothes so she approached the bedroom door slowly, rapping the knuckles of her left hand against the wood softly.

The door was pulled open mid-knock and she jumped in surprise, bringing a hand up to her chest as her heart raced, "Jesus," She exclaimed quietly, "Your reflexes are getting ridiculous."

Derek was tugging the gray tshirt the rest of the way down his chest as he opened the door, already changed into the sweatpants she'd left out for him. He blinked in thinly veiled amusement at her alarm and opened the door wider to allow her entry into the room.

"I need your dirty clothes so I can start a load of laundry." She reminded him, leaning against the doorframe.

He turned to grab the pile of clothes from the floor beside her bookshelf and handed them to her wordlessly.

She accepted the items and moved to leave, "I set an extra toothbrush on the sink in the bathroom so, y'know, 's all yours," He nodded and she took another step back, "Right. Just, get comfortable- Use whatever blankets. I'll grab more from downstairs on my way back." She told him before turning and heading toward the staircase.

After throwing a small load into the washing machine and getting it started, she pulled open the linen closet in the laundry room and grabbed an extra duvet, a knit throw blanket, and a quilt. Once she felt content that all of the bases were covered with the array of blankets, she headed back upstairs.

When she entered the bedroom again, she found Derek sitting on the hardwood floor. He'd taken just one of her five large pillows and had snagged the quilt that had been folded up at the end of her bed. The items were on the floor beside her desk along with him, positioned just below the large window along the wall.

He was flipping through an old paperback that he must've pulled from the bookshelf. It was a crime-thriller that Amber had reread four times and it was filled with dozens of sticky notes. They'd been stuck in the pages where she'd marked all of the little clues, foreshadowing, and false-leads that she'd picked up on with each read through the story.

She flushed in embarrassment at the werewolf casually holding such a silly piece of her, but quickly redirected her emotions. She tightened her arms around the blankets she was holding and glared at him coolly.

"Why on earth do you have a pillow on the floor?" She questioned, moving to drop the stack of blankets onto the bed.

He looked up from the book and furrowed his eyebrows silently before grabbing the pillow beside him and tossing it across the room where it landed back on the bed, "Sorry." He grumbled, returning his gaze to the book.

She looked between him and the pillow he'd thrown in stunned confusion for a few seconds, "Um, were you.. Planning on sleeping on the floor?"

His eyes lifted from the book in his hands to train on her again, "Where else would I sleep."

"Wh- In the bed?" She said in confusion, gesturing to the queen-sized bed on the opposite side of the room from him.

"Then where would you sleep?" Derek questioned.

"..In the bed?" She said slowly.

"We're not sleeping in a bed together." He told her firmly.

She blinked, "Why wouldn't we?"

"Because."

"Because why?" She prodded.

"Because you're a kid and it's not appropriate." He elaborated.

"Jesus, Derek." She laughed quietly, "I'm not going to jump your bones, alright? It's just sleeping. It's not that big of a deal. I sleep in a bed with Scott and Stiles all the time."

He shook his head, dropping his attention back to the book in his hands, "No."

"Why are you being so difficult?" She asked him, "If it'll make you feel better we can make a little pillow wall between us and everyth-"

"No." He didn't even look up from the pages as he spoke.

"Fine. What if you slept in the bed and I took the floor?" She bartered. She could probably handle a week of sleeping on the floor. Maybe. Derek had been sleeping god knows where for the last week and before that she was pretty sure that he'd most likely taken up residence on the uncomfortable and cushionless sofa she'd spotted in the old Hale house.

"No." Derek said, "I'm not stealing your bed."

She huffed quietly, looking between him and the bed and scrunching her face in thought, "Fine." She settled.

He looked up at her as if he didn't expect her to give up quite so easily, raising his eyebrows in surprise before once again returning his attention to the paperback he was holding.

She silently began to collect pillows from the bed, and dropped them to the floor beside it. She tossed one in Derek's direction before spreading the duvet out down at her feet. She determinedly sat down on top of the blanket now covering the hard floor and unfolded the extra quilt, throwing it over her legs.

"What are you doing." He said in exasperation.

She fluffed the stack of pillows behind her and laid down, shimmying in an attempt to get comfortable against the floor, "I'm sleeping where you're sleeping," She told him resolutely, "So I guess if you're sleeping on the cold hard floor, destined to lay awake all night and be both sore and cranky in the morning- So am I."

Derek blew out a hard breath through his nose in annoyance, but remained silent. She saw from the corner of her eye as he stood from the floor and she startled excitedly before watching him cross the room to turn the light off. Once he was finished, he made his way back over to his spot on the floor.

She huffed quietly and fluffed her pillow again, pulling the quilt up around her chin. She heard the quiet noise of Derek re-opening the paperback and flipping the page.

"You can't possibly be reading that in the dark." She said incredulously after a few moments.

"Werewolves have night vision." He told her blankly as she heard him turn another page.

"Of course they do." She muttered quietly.

She flipped onto her side in an attempt to get more comfortable and immediately regretted the decision when her shoulder pressed into the hardwood painfully. She turned onto her back again and lifted her butt off of the ground, adjusting her spine against the floor and pulling her pillow down to rest beneath her shoulders.

The quiet sound of Derek turning the page filled the room every couple of minutes. The hard surface of the floor made Amber's butt feel numb after no more than fifteen minutes had passed and she huffed and sighed, tugging at her pillow to readjust it once again.

"God. Fine." Derek cut through the silence suddenly. She heard the paperback drop loudly onto her desk and the sound of blankets rustling before the quilt was ripped from her body.

"Hey-" She sat up in surprise.

"I said fine." He repeated, "Now get in the bed."

She scrambled to get up off of the floor before he could change his mind. As she rose to stand, he tossed her pillows back onto the bed and waited impatiently as she climbed beneath the covers in the center of the mattress.

"Which side do you want?" She asked quietly. She could barely make out the shape of him standing beside the bed in the dark, but apparently he could see her just fine.

"This one." He said, pushing her to the side of the bed farthest from the door and window.

She threw the blankets open for him but they were tucked back over her immediately.

"I agreed to sleep in the bed." He told her firmly, "I'm not sleeping under the covers with you."

She rolled her eyes in the dark, flopping down into the bed and pulling the duvet further onto her side, tucking it around herself, "Such a prude." She muttered quietly under her breath, knowing full-well that he'd heard it anyway.

While she couldn't see anything in the pitch black of the room, she figured that having someone looking directly at you, even unseeingly, would probably be unnerving. So, she flipped onto her side and turned away from Derek when she felt his weight settle down against the mattress.

She sighed happily at the comfort of the bed and snuggled into the blankets, already beginning to feel sleepy, "G'night." She hummed.

She could practically hear the eye roll in Derek's sigh, "Good night, Amber."

"This is gonna be impossible, you know." Scott announced to his best friends as he pulled open the main doors to the school on Wednesday morning.

"We'll figure something out." Amber said resolutely as they entered the building.

Stiles stepped up between the two of them and nudged Scott with his shoulder, "Why don't you just ask her if you can borrow it?"

"How?" Scott questioned.

Stiles shrugged, "Easy. Just say, 'Hey, Allison, can I borrow your necklace to see if there's anything on it or in it that can lead me to an Alpha werewolf that I need to kill in order to get back together with you.'"

Amber reached up to slap Stiles on the back of his head, "Yeah. I'm sure that'll go over great. You're being very helpful."

"Okay, fine." He sighed before turning to her with excited eyes, "Wait. Why don't you just ask to borrow it? Girls share clothes, and jewelry, and stuff, right?"

"Yes, but not family heirlooms, Stiles." She said, shaking her head while tugging at the straps of her backpack and turning to Scott, "Besides, isn't it about time you tried to just talk to her?"

Scott shook his head, "She won't talk to me."

Amber sighed and scrunched her nose in thought, "I- She's literally always wearing it. I mean, she probably only takes it off to shower."

"Maybe." Stiles agreed before turning to look at Scott, "Look, you just gotta ease back into-" Scott stopped walking and Stiles pulled Amber to a halt before trying again, "You gotta ease back into it, man. Get on her good side. Remind her of the good times.. And then you ask her for the necklace."

Scott smiled softly as if he hadn't heard a word and Amber blinked, "Scott?"

Stiles smacked him on the arm aggressively, "You're thinking about Allison in the shower, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Scott admitted sheepishly.

"Stay focused, Scott." Amber scolded.

Stiles put a hand on Scott's shoulder and gave him a shake, "Get the necklace. Get the Alpha. Get cured. Get Allison. In that order. Got it?"

Scott nodded in understanding and Stiles guided Amber in the direction of the hallway where the two of their lockers were located with a gentle hand on the back of her neck.

"D'you think he'll be able to get the necklace?" She questioned.

"No idea." Stiles admitted, squeezing her neck softly, "But let's hope so."

On her way to second period, Amber was grabbed roughly by the arm and she stumbled as she was pulled from the stairwell and around the corner into the hallway.

"Um, ow-" She complained, rubbing her shoulder where her arm had pulled on the socket and looking up at Scott as he released her, "Reign in the super-strength, dude." She scolded in a hushed voice.

Stiles jogged up to the two of them, having been ditched only a few yards back when Scott had spotted Amber.

"Jackson knows I'm a werewolf." Scott told them quickly, already walking down the hallway again.

"W-Wait, what?" Amber asked, running to catch up with him.

"How the hell did he find out?" Stiles asked, falling into step beside her.

Scott looked at them with wild eyes, "I have no idea."

"I mean- are you sure he knows?" Amber questioned.

"Yeah, I- Did he say it out loud?" Stiles asked, "The word?"

Scott looked at Stiles in confusion, "What word?"

"Werewolf." Stiles hissed in annoyance as they walked, "Did he say 'I know you're a werewolf'?"

"No, but he implied it pretty freaking clearly." Scott told them worriedly, looking around them to check that no one was listening in on their conversation.

"Okay." Amber said quickly, "Okay, maybe this isn't so bad-"

Stiles nodded, "I mean- He doesn't have proof, right? And even if he wanted to tell someone, who's gonna believe him, anyway?"

"How about Allison's father?" Scott snapped quietly.

Amber made a small panicked noise and looked between her friends worriedly, gnawing on her lower lip. Allison was one thing, but the rest of the Argent family truly terrified her.

"Okay, it's bad." Stiles reached up a comforting hand to smooth down the hair at the back of Amber's head before settling his fingers between her shoulder blades.

"Guys, I need a cure." Scott told them, "Right now."

"Does-does Jackson know about Allison's dad?" Amber asked.

Scott shook his head, "I don't know."

"Okay, where's Derek?" Stiles asked after a moment, looking between Amber and Scott.

"He's laying low." Scott said vaguely, having only found out the older werewolf's location that morning.

"He's hiding in my bedroom." Amber clarified after a moment.

"Okay, that.. That I don't like." Stiles announced, pointing his finger accusingly at Amber before continuing with a sigh, "Look, I have another idea. It's gonna take a little time and finesse, though."

"We have the game tonight," Scott reminded him, "It's quarterfinals."

Amber looked up at Stiles and tugged on the billowing fabric at the bottom of his plaid shirt, pulling him to a stop in the hallway, "It's your first game." She said with wide eyes.

Stiles threw his head back in exasperation, dropping his hand from her back to pull the strap of his bookbag more firmly onto his shoulder, "I know, I know." Stiles sighed. He peeked over Amber's shoulder at Scott and changed the subject, "Do you have a plan for Allison yet?"

Scott sighed with an uncertain shrug, "She's in my next class." He told them.

"Get the necklace." Stiles ordered. He looked at Scott for a second and lifted his eyebrows with emphasis before patting Amber on the shoulder and heading down the hallway in the direction of his own class.

Amber reached a hand up to pat Scott softly on his bicep, "You can do this, Scott. Just, y'know-" She waved her hands emphatically, "Get the necklace." She reiterated before heading back to the stairwell that would take her to the Algebra II room.

Amber shook her head at Scott in disappointment and he guiltily sagged back into his chair as she spoke, "You sent your ex a bunch of cutesy couple-photos of the two of you? That is how you thought you would 'remind her of the good times'?" She scolded him, "Stiles didn't mean that quite so literally, you know."

Scott sulked but didn't respond, picking up the largest chicken tender from his plate and tossing it onto the top of his friend's salad sadly. He lifted his water bottle to his lips to take a sip and watched out of the corner of his eye as Amber sighed and began cutting up the chicken into small pieces over her greens, nudging her knee against his under the table in silent a thank you.

Stiles appeared behind them only a few moments later, patting Amber on the top of her head softly before moving around the table and sitting down across from her and Scott, "So, did you get the necklace?" Stiles asked unknowingly as he set his tray down.

"Not exactly." Scott admitted with a frown, continuing to avoid Amber's gaze.

Stiles sighed, "What happened?"

"He blew it." Amber told Stiles, stabbing her fork into her salad and stuffing a bite into her mouth.

Scott glared at her momentarily before looking across the table at Stiles, "She told me not to talk to her anymore. At all." He sighed.

Stiles spoke around a mouthful of his own chicken, "So she's not giving you the neckl-"

"She's not giving me the necklace." Scott interrupted.

"Well, did you find anything else out?" Stiles questioned as he ate.

Scott leaned back in his chair, "Just that I know nothing about girls, and that they're totally psychotic."

Amber stabbed aggressively into her salad and narrowed her eyes at Scott, "Or.. 'You know nothing about girls and also you were being a huge dick.'" The smile she directed at him was truly frightening.

Stiles leaned over the table, "Okay, okay-" He interjected, "I came up with a plan 'B' in case something like this happened."

"Good." Amber said, turning her attention back to her plate, "So, what's plan 'B'?"

"Just steal the stupid thing." Stiles told them obviously.

"You remember the bit of the conversation where I said that she probably only takes it off to get in the shower, right?" Amber questioned, looking at Stiles across the table.

He waved her off noncommittally and when she looked down at her plate, he gave Scott a look of solidarity and mouthed the words at him again silently, Steal it.

"Couldn't we at least try getting to Harris?" Scott asked his friends.

Stiles shook his head, "My dad put him on a twenty-four hour protective detail, okay? The necklace is all we got." He told them before directing his attention solely on Scott, "Steal it. Thank you."

Scott looked across the lunchroom over Stiles' shoulder to peek at Allison, but found that Jackson was sitting beside her and already staring directly at him. Scott sat up a little straighter in his seat and he felt Amber nudge him with her elbow in question at his sudden tenseness.

"Guys." Scott whispered, "He's watching us."

"Who, Jackson?" Amber asked back quietly, peering around Stiles' shoulder unsubtly to look for Jackson.

Scott pulled on her shoulder to tug her back into her seat normally just as Jackson bit into an apple across the lunchroom. Because Scott had been focused on the other boy, the sound was startlingly loud to his ears and he flinched at the crunch when Jackson's teeth ripped into the fruit.

"Scott. Can you hear me?" Jackson asked quietly, voice sounding as if he had his mouth hovering directly beside Scott's ear, "You can. Can't you?"

"What's wrong?" Stiles whispered across the table, his own body stiff at Scott's reaction.

"Jackson's talking to me. He knows I can hear him." Scott told his friends, looking between them frantically, "Amber, look at me." He hissed, nudging her with his elbow when she looked back across the room toward Jackson, "One of you talk to me. Just- Act normal. Pretend that nothing's happening."

"Are you trying to pretend not to hear me?"

"Say something! Talk to me-" Scott hissed.

Amber flinched and dropped her fork as she turned in her seat to face him fully, "I- um. I-" Scott looked at her with wide eyes and she shook her head anxiously, "I can't think under pressure! My mind's blank-"

"Your mind's blank?" Scott repeated incredulously, "You can't think of anything to say?"

"I don't- Um, okay. The-the-"

"Weather!" Stiles supplied helpfully from across the table, "Sports! Current events-" He said, seemingly just listing news segments as they popped into his head.

Amber's eyes flicked over to where Jackson had been sitting and she sagged in relief, "He's gone. He's not even sitting there anymore."

Scott's head snapped up to look around the lunchroom, trying to locate Jackson, "Where the hell is he?" He whispered.

"Looking for me, McCall?" Jackson's voice piped in, "I'm right here."

Scott averted his gaze quickly down to the tabletop.

"So, what else can you do? Huh? Can you see better? Are you stronger? More powerful?" Jackson prodded, "Y'know, I knew there was no way you suddenly got that good at lacrosse. Which means.. You're actually a cheater. Aren't you? I mean, can you even play lacrosse?"

"Yes." Scott whispered petulantly in response, though Jackson couldn't hear it.

Amber nudged him softly with her arm again in question but Scott ignored her, focussing intently on the table as he listened to Jackson continue.

"I'll bet my new co-captain is gonna score a bunch of shots tonight, aren't you?" Jackson needled, "And while you're pretending you're not a lying cheat- I'm gonna ruin your life, if you don't give me exactly what I want." He threatened with a quiet laugh, "And you know what I'm gonna start with? Her."

Scott's attention snapped up to see Jackson standing beside the vending machines, nodding his head in Allison's direction across the room. Scott's hand tightened into a fist around his bottle of water.

"I'm gonna destroy any chance you had with her. And.. When I'm done with that-" Jackson chuckled darkly, "I'll move on to Callisto and mess with whatever weird little threesome you and Stilinski 've got going on with her. I'm gonna get Amber all alone.. And I'm gonna get my hands all over her tight little body."

Scott's hands were trembling with rage and he set down his water bottle to grip at the edges of his lunch tray, white-knuckled.

"Scott c'mon, you can't let him do this," Stiles spoke quietly, leaning across the table, "You can't let him have that kind of power over you. Okay?"

Amber reached her hand over to rest on Scott's forearm, "Scott, just breathe, okay?"

"I'm gonna do everything you and Stilinski just wish you could do. And, Scott? She's gonna beg for more. I mean, look at her right now. Imagine what it'll be like, when she's got those hands all over me."

"Scott, just take a breath-" Amber whispered softly, worry in her voice.

Scott tightened his hold on the plastic of the tray and struggled to follow her advice, huffing a sharp breath in and out through his nose.

"I bet she likes to get loud... Maybe she's even a screamer."  Jackson antagonized, "How're you gonna feel, Scott? When I'm making your best friend feel so good that she's screaming my name?"

Scott's lunch tray snapped in half and Amber and Stiles both flinched at the loud crack of the plastic. The entire lunchroom looked over at their table and Scott pulled in a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to calm his anger.

When he met Jackson's eye across the room, the boy was grinning at him like he knew exactly how close Scott was to completely losing control.

"Jesus. Scott, what did he even say?" Amber asked quietly. She was causally moving his food onto her tray and collecting the plastic shards from his own into a pile.

"Dude, was it that bad?" Stiles asked him.

"Yeah." Scott exhaled another angry breath through his nose, "Yeah, it was that bad."

When Amber caught sight of Lydia during the fifteen minute afternoon break, the redhead looked like she was about ready to snap.

"Lyds, what-" Lydia stormed past her without stopping and Amber raced to catch up with her, "Woah, what's going on?" She questioned worriedly.

Lydia huffed an agitated breath and wordlessly handed over her cell phone as they walked. Amber looked down at the device and saw a text message from Jackson displayed on the screen. She skimmed over it as they fast-walked down the hallway and her eyes widened as she looked up at her friend.

Amber held the phone back out to Lydia, "Wh-"

"Jackson!" Lydia called out sharply as they came up behind the boy.

He turned to face them with a smug smile and Amber shot him a dark glare.

"This little text-" Lydia snapped, waving her phone in front of him, "Not funny."

Jackson looked between them, raising his eyebrows innocently, "Oh, no, I wasn't trying to be funny. I would've put 'haha' at the end." He said, pointing to the message on the screen, "And, see- No 'haha.'"

"'Lydia. Please give me back my spare key at your earliest convenience - As we are no longer dating.'" Lydia read off slowly, shooting him an disbelieving look.

He looked at Lydia incredulously, "You didn't lose it, did you?"

Amber fought the urge to smack him and instead brought a hand up to rest on Lydia's back in solidarity, as the redhead let out an agitated breath, "What the hell is this?" Lydia hissed.

"Well, Lydia. In preparation for some pretty big changes, I've decided to drop some of the dead weight in my life. And... You're just about the deadest." Jackson said with a cruel shrug of nonchalance.

Amber seethed silently as Lydia spoke again, "Are you breaking up with me?" She questioned quietly.

"Dumping, actually." Jackson clarified, "I'm dumping you."

"Dumped." Lydia repeated slowly, "By the 'co-captain' of the lacrosse team.. I wonder how many minutes it'll take me to get over that."

Jackson shrugged with another infuriating grin, turning his attention to Amber for the first time since the conversation began. His eyes dropped down to her bare legs before raking them back up her body in a disgustingly slow drag and raising his eyebrows, "Looking good, Callisto." When he took a step to pass by them, he reached out and tugged teasingly at the hem of her skirt. "Hot." He reiterated.

She shoved his hand away and had to physically restrain herself from hitting him in the middle of the busy hallway, "Fuck off, Whittemore." She scrunched her face up angrily and he shrugged before walking away.

"Wait-! Seconds!" Lydia called out angrily to his retreating form, "It'll take seconds!"

Amber let her friend take a couple of deep breaths before she spoke, "Lyds, are- Are you okay?"

"Fine." Lydia said quickly, "I'm totally fine. I should've dumped him months ago, anyway."

"Lydia, it's okay to be upse-"

"I am not. Upset." She snapped, taking another breath, "So. Now that we're done wasting time on him, let's get to class."

Amber sighed, nodding and reaching out to rub Lydia's shoulder as they walked in the direction of their lockers.

Later that afternoon, Amber looked across the Jeep at Stiles pleadingly, "I really think we should swing by my house first so I can check on-"

"Y'know he's not actually a puppy." Stiles told her, his eyes flicking over at her momentarily as he drove, "You don't need to check on him to make sure he's fed, watered, and going to the bathroom at regular intervals."

"Stiles." She sighed at his annoyance, "He's in hiding, alright? It isn't like he's snuggling up under the covers with me at night-"

"Is that to imply that he's in your bed sleeping on top of the covers?" He cut in immediately, an air of sarcasm in his voice. She pursed her lips at the truth in his words and Stiles' caught sight of it in the corner of his eye, "Are you kidding?" He squeaked, "You're not seriously letting Derek Hale sleep in your bed!"

She thunked her head painfully against the window, "Stiles, c'mon. Don't-"

"Oh.. My god-" He whined, "Derek Hale is sleeping in your bed-"

"I'm making him sleep in my bed, alright?" She interjected, "He tried to sleep on the floor and I told him no. He's been sleeping god knows where for two months and- And I told him if he didn't sleep in the bed then I'd sleep on the floor miserably too."

"You're insane." He told her, "You're actually insane. You trust the guy so much that you're sleeping with him-"

"Oh, come on, don't make it gross." She said sharply as Stiles turned into his own driveway and parked, "He's like my brother."

Stiles paused in the motion of unbuckling his seatbelt, looking up at her in surprise, "Your brother?" He repeated. She nodded and he spoke again, "You think of Derek.. Like a brother." He said again.

She unbuckled herself and climbed out of the vehicle, "Yes, Stiles. What are you-"

He stumbled from the car to follow her toward the front door, "Why- Why is this the first time you've said-" He shook his head, "You did not mention that distinction before."

She shrugged as they stepped into the house, "You were being kind of a dick about it, so I thought I'd let you flounder for a bit," She told him as they climbed the stairs, "Honestly, I thought you'd have realized it on your own by now."

Stiles paused outside of his bedroom and scrunched his face up in frustration in a way that suggested he had too many things that he wanted to say all at once. He lifted his finger accusingly at her and narrowed his eyes before turning sharply and making a beeline for the laptop on his desk without a word.

She trailed in after him and tossed her bookbag on his bed just as Mr. Stilinski called down the hallway, "Hey, Stiles!"

He spun in his chair and looked in Amber's direction,"Yo, D- Derek-" He stuttered, eyes wide.

Amber's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she turned her head, letting out a yelp of surprise at the sight of Derek standing right behind her. She flinched and jerked to the side, bashing her elbow sharply off of the corner of the open door.

Stiles dashed toward the door and grabbed it, closing it around himself and blocking the rest of the room off with his body as he greeted his dad in the hallway.

"What'd you say?" Stiles' dad asked in confusion.

"I said- 'Yo D-Dad'" Stiles told him slowly.

"Is Amber alright?" His dad followed up, "It sounded like she ran into something."

She rushed to the door and squeezed underneath where Stiles' forearm was resting against the doorframe, "I'm good," She said quickly, gripping onto Stiles' shirt for balance in the narrow space, "Just clumsy. Very, very clumsy. You know me, always... Running into things." She finished awkwardly.

The Sheriff narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked between them, "Right.." He said slowly before focusing on Stiles, "Listen, I've got something I've gotta take care of. But, uh, I'm gonna be there tonight. I mean.. Your first game." The man grinned excitedly at his son.

"My first game." Stiles repeated with a nod, "Uh, it's great. Awesome. Uh- Good."

"I'm very happy for you," His father told him earnestly, "And I'm really proud of you."

Stiles huffed a nervous laugh, "Thanks. Me too. I'm happy and proud... Of myself."

"We- We're all very proud of Stiles." Amber repeated with a small smile.

The Sheriff grinned at his son, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jacket, "So, they're really gonna let you play, right?"

"Yeah, Dad," Stiles confirmed, his arm dropping slightly on the doorframe to rest more firmly across Amber's shoulders, "I'm first line. Believe that?"

"It's amazing," Amber agreed, patting her left hand on Stiles' chest, "That's our sexy little athlete. Finally getting a chance to play n' show us what he's got.."

The Sheriff looked between them again as Stiles made a small noise, "I uh- I'm very proud." Sheriff Stilinski repeated, stepping forward to rest a hand on his son's shoulder and giving it a loving squeeze. He ran his hand over the short cut of Stiles' hair before smiling again and turning to leave. "See you both there." The Sheriff told them.

"Uh huh." Amber nodded.

"Take it easy.." Stiles called out.

His dad slowly descended the stairs, looking between the two of them suspiciously again and shaking his head before disappearing out of sight.

"I just called you sexy in front of your dad." Amber whispered miserably. She ducked back from beneath his arm and tugged on Stiles' shirt to pull him into the room, beginning to mumble under her breath, "Why in god's name did I-"

The door swung shut with a bang and Amber was pushed a small step to the side when Derek shoved Stiles up against the wood of the door with a hand fisted into the boy's shirt.

"If you say one word-" Derek threatened quietly.

Stiles glared, "What, like 'Hey Dad, Derek Hale's in my room. Bring your gun.'?"

"Alright, testosterone central-" Amber scolded, stepping forward and gently loosening Derek's fingers from the fabric of Stiles' shirt, "Let's settle down."

Derek took a small step back at Amber's insistence and Stiles continued to glare at the older boy, "That's right. At this second, I'm harboring your fugitive ass. It's my house, my rules, buddy." Stiles slapped Derek's shoulder in emphasis and Derek's eyes dropped down to the point of contact before slowly moving back to Stiles with a dark look.

Amber pulled Derek back another step and Stiles grinned at him smugly. When Stiles moved to head back over to his desk, Derek jerked forward threateningly and the boy yelped in fear.

"Ho-Oh my god," Stiles flinched and scrambled to get away from the werewolf, stumbling as he fell into his desk chair. Amber moved to stand behind Stiles and put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, shaking her head at the two of them.

"Scott didn't get the necklace?" Derek asked them after a moment.

"No-" Stiles started.

"He's working on it," Amber defended before slapping her hand down softly onto Stiles' shoulder, "But there's something else Stiles thinks we can try. He's the man with a plan." She boasted softly.

Derek raised his eyebrows and looked at Stiles expectantly.

"The night we were trapped at the school, Scott sent a text to Allison asking her to meet him there." Stiles explained.

Derek shrugged, "So?"

"So, Scott's phone was broken," Amber said, "It wasn't him."

"Well, can you find out who sent it?" Derek asked Stiles.

"No, not us." Stiles told him, spinning his chair to face his open laptop, "But I think we know somebody who can."

Twenty minutes later, Danny Mahealani arrived at the Stilinski household and looked at Stiles in annoyed disbelief.

"You want me to do what?" Danny asked him, gaze cutting across the room to where Amber was laying on her stomach on the bed with a textbook in front of her. She smiled at him awkwardly and lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

"Trace a text." Stiles repeated with a grimace.

Danny shook his head, "I came here to do lab work. That's what lab partners do." He looked over at Amber as if he was having trouble comprehending the situation he was being presented with, "And I'm not even your lab partner... Amber is. If she isn't busy then what am I even doing here?"

"We will do lab work, Alright? We'll have a big lab study date. All three of us.. Once you trace the text." Stiles told him.

"And what makes you think I know how?" Danny questioned slowly.

Stiles shrugged guiltily, leaning back in his chair and tapping his hands on the desk, "I.. I looked up your arrest report, so.."

Danny stepped back in surprise, "I-I was thirteen!" He defended, "They dropped the charges."

Amber sighed, slapping her hands down onto the textbook pages in front of her, "Danny, we don't care that you're a juvenile delinquent. In fact, it would really come in handy right now if you wanted to-"

"No." Danny said firmly, "No. We're doing lab work."

Stiles scrunched his face up in frustration as Danny grabbed a chair and sat down beside him, pulling out his Chemistry book. Amber shrugged in response and Stiles turned to face his desk with a grumble.

After a few seconds, Danny peeked over his shoulder as Stiles began typing something to look back at Derek, the werewolf was sitting at the very edge of the bed beside Amber's shoulder and he had an encyclopedia open in his lap, pretending to read it with an annoyed scowl on his face.

"Who's he again?" Danny asked Stiles not so quietly.

Stiles turned around and shot Amber a frantic look, unsure what to say, "Um-"

"He's Stiles' cousin." She supplied with a smile, laughing quietly under her breath when Derek's angry glare intensified.

Stiles nodded quickly, "Yup. My cousin... Miguel."

Danny looked at Derek more blatantly, eyes raking over his body slowly this time before he nudged Stiles, "Is that blood on his shirt?"

Amber's head snapped in Derek's direction. She looked more closely at his shirt to find that he did indeed have several smudges of blood staining the beige cotton over his abdomen. Why he had chosen to wear a dirty blood-smeared henley instead of the clothes she'd washed the night before, she couldn't understand. She opened her mouth to respond to Danny's question, "Oh, um.."

Stiles noticed the large stain as well, "Yeah. Yes, well. He gets these horrible nosebleeds." He supplied awkwardly, "Hey, Miguel-" Stiles called out loudly, turning around in his chair. Derek glared up at him as he continued, "I thought I told you, you could borrow one of my shirts." Stiles nodded his head toward the dresser across the room.

Derek's jaw clenched as he snapped the encyclopedia in his lap closed loudly. He tossed the heavy book onto the bed beside Amber and scowled at Stiles before moving over to the dresser and tugging his shirt over his head.

"So, anyway," Stiles started again, turing back toward Danny, "We both know you have the skills to trace that text, so we should probably-"

"Um. Stiles." Derek turned from the dresser with a shirt in his hand and sighed.

"Yes?" Stiles asked in annoyance.

"This," Derek said, pulling at the fabric of the shirt in his hands, "No fit."

Amber snorted, shaking her head at him as she returned to her book.

"Then try something else on." Stiles said in irritation. He turned back to Danny once again, "Wh-"

At the sound of his confused stutter, Amber looked up, watching the way Stiles turned his head back and forth rapidly between the boy in front of him and Derek. Danny's attention was focussed on Derek's shirtless body across the room, a look of dazed captivation on his face as he watched the muscles of Derek's back while he dug around for a shirt.

Derek pulled out a blue and orange striped atrocity that Amber didn't think she'd seen since they were in middle school, and he pulled the shirt down over his head.

"Hey, that one looks pretty good, huh?" Stiles asked, nudging Danny with his elbow, "What'd'you think, Danny?"

"Huh?" Danny asked in confusion.

"The shirt." Stiles clarified, pointing over to Derek again.

The stripes on the fabric were warped as they stretched tight over Derek's muscular frame and it barely came down to cover his stomach, revealing a small strip of skin and hair over the waistband of his jeans. Amber snorted out a laugh at the sight and Derek shot her a quick glare before directing his anger back toward Stiles.

"Uh.." Danny started slowly, eyeing Derek up and down with interest, "It-It's not really his color."

Derek tightened his mouth in annoyance and ripped the shirt back over his head, dropping it into the drawer and beginning to dig around again.

"You swing for a different team, but you still play ball, don't you, Danny boy?" Stiles teased quietly, a shiteating grin on his face.

"You're a horrible person." Danny responded quietly.

Stiles leaned back in his chair and smiled, "I know. It keeps me awake at night. Anyway.. About that text-"

"Stiles!" Derek snapped, turning from the dresser with another small tshirt in his fist, "None of these fit." He waved the shirt in the air angrily and the muscles of his stomach and chest flexed with the movement.

Stiles raised his eyebrows and turned to Danny slowly, a hopeful look in his eyes.

Danny sighed, "I'll need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of the text." He told them, turning toward the computer.

With Stiles' attention on Danny again, Amber sighed and took pity on the older boy in the room. She rolled off of the bed, careful not to flash the room in her skirt, and came up to stand beside Derek at the side of the dresser. She peeked inside with a frown, swiping at Derek's arm until he removed his hand from the drawer. She slammed it shut before pulling open the next drawer down.

She rifled through its contents for only a second before finding a soft black tshirt that she'd worn to sleep in the past and pulling it out, handing it over to the werewolf with an easy grin. "Here." She said softly.

Derek quickly pulled the shirt over his head, and he sighed in relief when it fit over his body normally.

Once Derek had been taken care of, Amber crossed the room and came to stand behind Stiles and Danny. She leaned to rest her forearms against the back of Stiles' chair, propping her chin over the top of his head as she watched Danny work at the laptop with quick movements. She didn't follow much of what was being done, but Danny typed what appeared to be code and clicked rapidly at the trackpad for a few minutes with a determined focus.

Derek stepped up beside Amber and they all watched quietly as the boy plugged away at tracing the message.

"There," Danny said after a few minutes, "The text was sent from a computer. This one." He gestured to the writing on the screen and Amber squinted as she read the words.

"What?" She said quietly in confusion, looking up at Derek beside her.

"Registered to that account name?" Derek asked, eyeing the same name that had made Amber's heart stutter in her chest nervously.

"No, no, no, no, that can't be right." Stiles interjected.

Danny shrugged, standing from his chair and pulling on his jacket as he made to leave, "You wanted me to trace it. I did. That's who sent your text."

Amber shook her head in denial, eyes rereading the screen over and over in the hopes that it would suddenly change to display something that made more sense. But, the screen didn't change. Beneath the jumble of code, the same words remained.

Account Registered to:

Beacon Hills Hospital - Melissa McCall

Scott had stolen Allison's necklace and the jewelry was safely stuffed into the pocket of his jeans as he collected his bike from the bushes beneath her bedroom window. He was just about to throw his leg over the seat and head home when a voice behind him made him flinch.

"Scott." Allison's dad called out. When Scott turned, the man was watching him closely, "Come on in."

Scott sighed in frustration but allowed Chris Argent to lead him back toward the front door of the house. Once they were inside, the two of them stood in the kitchen awkwardly for a long moment.

"She should be home in a few minutes," Chris told him, "She sometimes goes for a run after school."

Scott wiped his hands nervously on his jeans, "Y'know, actually, I should get going," He said hesitantly, "I've got a game to get to tonight."

Chris shook his head and turned to the fridge, "You want something to drink?" He questioned, retrieving two brown bottles and placing them on the countertop, "I'm gonna have a beer." He said as he popped the top off of both bottles.

Scott startled, looking at the bottle in confusion as Chris slid it across the countertop toward him, "You don't have to test me anymore," Scott told him, "Your daughter already dumped me."

Chris shook his head, sipping from his bottle, "No test," He assured him, "I'm sorry. High school romances.. They burn bright and fade fast." The man nodded toward the bottle again, "Go ahead."

Scott pushed the bottle away slowly, "I'm good, thanks."

Allison's dad sipped from his own bottle again before grinning, "So, I was curious about something, Scott," He started, his grin quickly fading into a sharp look, "How do you know Derek Hale?"

Scott blinked in surprise, faltering for a second, "Who?" He finally asked.

"Allison said that she's seen you talking to him," Chris elaborated, "Don't you think that's a little disconcerting, Scott?" He asked sharply, "You talking to an alleged murderer?"

"It's not like I'm the only one who knows him." Scott defended.

"No, that's true," Christ said in agreement, "You're friend Amber. She was dating him, wasn't she?"

"What?" Scott asked in genuine surprise, "No! She-she never-"

Chris hummed, "I guess there are some things that teenage girls only talk about in the company of their girlfriends, isn't there?" He asked, "So, now. Not only is he a dangerous guy, Scott. He's a twenty-one year old man. And he was dating a sixteen year old girl. Do you see an issue there, Scott?"

He balked, still reeling in confusion, "I-I mean, yes but they never-"

"Let me put it this way," Chris leaned back and crossed his arms, "You can tell me how you know Derek, or I can go and talk to your friend Amber and ask her."

"Why are you talking to me like I've done something wrong?" Scott asked frantically.

"Have you?" Chris asked him sharply, a moment passing before he sighed, "You don't have to be afraid of me. I mean, you get that I'm just thinking of my daughter's safety, right? If you and your friends are bringing dangerous people into her circle-"

"Will you believe me if I say I think about her safety too?" Scott interrupted, "That's all I think about." He admitted with a shaky breath, "When we were at the school the other night.. Every choice I made, everything I did. Every single thing was to make sure your daughter was safe!"

Chris scrunched his face in thought before nodding toward the doorway, "You should go," He told Scott in dismissal, "You don't want to be late for your game."

"Scott sent me a message!" Amber announced as they pulled into the parking lot at the hospital.

"Okay, well, what did he say?" Stiles asked while he pulled into a space and put the car in park, "Did he get the necklace?"

Amber leaned back to show her phone to the boys on either side of her in the Jeep, "It's just a picture of the necklace."

Derek pulled at her wrist to look at the photo just as Stiles' phone began ringing loudly.

Scrambling to pull the device out of his pocket, Stiles a accepted the call and immediately put it on speakerphone, "Yeah?" He answered.

"Are you with Amber?" Scott asked.

"I'm right here." She piped in.

"Did you get the picture?" Scott followed up.

"Yeah, we did," Stiles told him, "It looks just like the drawing."

Derek reached in front of Amber to grab Stiles by the wrist, yanking his cellphone across the vehicle to speak into it directly despite it being on speakerphone, and Stiles winced and made a noise of discomfort at the werewolf's tight grip.

"Hey, is there something on the back of it?" Derek questioned, "There's gotta be something. An inscription, an opening, something."

"No, no. The thing's flat," Scott's voice came through the phone, "And no, it doesn't open. There's nothing in it, on it, around it, nothing." They all paused as they processed the information and Scott spoke again, "And anyway, where are you guys? Stiles, man, you're supposed to be here. You're finally first line."

Amber frowned at the reminder and looked over at Stiles sadly just before Coach Finstock's voice sounded out in the background of the call.

"Where the hell is Bilinski!" He was shouting.

Scott sighed into the phone, "Stiles, you're not gonna play if you're not here to start."

Stiles threw his head back to thump against the side of the car in frustration and Amber reached out to grab hold of his wrist and rubbed her thumb along it softly.

"I know." Stiles told Scott, "Look, if you see my dad can you tell him- Tell him I'll be there. I'll just be a little bit late, okay?"

"Alright, dude." Scott said, "Just hurry up and get here."

"Alright," Stiles agreed, "Thanks."

Stiles ended the call and Amber continued to look at him sadly in the dim glow shining into the car from the streetlights.

"You're not gonna make it." Derek said blankly after a moment.

Amber turned to slap Derek's arm for his insensitivity as Stiles responded with a sigh, "I know."

"And neither one of you told him about his mom." Derek reminded them, nodding toward the hospital building.

"We can't tell him yet." Amber told him firmly.

Stiles nodded in agreement, "Not until we find out the truth."

"Right, let's go then." Amber said, moving to slide closer to Stiles so she could follow him out the driver's side.

"Wait, hold up," Derek said, "One more thing,"

The teens both turned back to look at him expectantly and Derek reached past Amber and gripped the back of Stiles' head, quickly thrusting his arm downward and bashing Stiles' face against the steering wheel with a hard smack.

"Derek!" Amber scolded, reaching up to delicately take Stiles' face into her hands and check for bleeding.

"God!" Stiles whined, allowing his head to be tilted back as Amber checked his nose, "What the hell was that for?"

"You know what that was for," Derek told him firmly, "You don't get to pimp me out for information. Now, go." He glared and pointed toward the hospital.

Amber scrunched her face angrily, but didn't find any cuts on Stiles' face or blood coming from his nose. She smoothed the thumb of her left hand over his cheek softly once before reaching out her other arm, pulling the handle behind Stiles to swing the door open.

They climbed out of the vehicle and Stiles shot Derek an angry look as he slammed the door shut again, wrapping an arm territorially around Amber's shoulders and leading her toward the building without a word.

"You okay?" She asked him quietly as they went through the automatic doors.

"After getting my head bashed in by a werewolf?" Stiles asked sarcastically, "Yeah I'm peachy."

She rolled her eyes in indignation at his sarcasm being directed toward her as they stepped into the main waiting area of the long-term hospice unit. She looked around slowly in confusion as she took in the desolate room around them.

"Where is everybody?" She asked, peeking over the top of the nurses station as if she might find someone lurking behind it.

"I dunno." Stiles said, peeking into the empty breakroom behind the desk, "Hello?" He called out.

They made their way slowly into the main hall in confusion, "I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure there's supposed to be a nurse or two working here." Amber said after a minute.

Her cellphone suddenly trilled loudly and they both jumped at the unexpected noise. She rushed to pull the device from her pocket and brought it up to her ear as she answered the call from an unknown number.

"Hello?" She said warily, pausing to stand beside Stiles.

"Did you talk to my uncle's nurse?" Derek asked immediately.

"No, we can't find her. Do you have a cell phone?" She questioned in confusion, "Why didn't I know you have a cell phone?"

"Did you talk to my uncle's nurse." Derek said again firmly.

Stiles pulled the phone out of her grip to put it on speaker so that he could hear more clearly, "Yeah. It's like Amber said, we can't find her." He repeated.

"Look, ask for Jennifer-" Derek told them through the speaker, "She's been looking after him."

They were standing just outside the room with a whiteboard on the door displaying Peter Hale in dry erase marker. Amber stepped around the corner to peek into the room for a second time, looking around the empty space slowly. The bed was neatly made and an empty wheelchair was parked against the wall at the end of it.

"Yeah, he's not here either." Amber told Derek, "There's nobody h-"

"What?" Derek interrupted in disbelief.

"He's not here." Stiles said, leaning against the doorframe beside Amber.

She turned to face Stiles as she spoke, "He's gone, Derek."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone and Amber waited patiently for Derek to give them some direction, bouncing up on the balls of her feet restlessly.

"Amber. Get out of there now!" Derek yelled through the speaker of the phone, "It's him! He's the Alpha! You guys need to get out!"

Amber felt her chest tighten at Derek's panicked words and she looked up at Stiles with wide eyes. She pushed him back out of the doorway with a hand on his chest and he stumbled back a step before his eyes caught on something down the hallway. She glanced over to where he was staring and flinched back at the sight of the man leaning against the wall. She took another clumsy step back toward the front doors, grabbing Stiles' hand and pulling him along with her.

The man pushed off of the wall casually and took a small step toward them, the bright fluorescent lights of the hallway showcased the severe burn scars marring the left side of his face.

"You must be Stiles," Derek's uncle spoke smoothly before slowly turning his focus to the girl, "And Amber." He took a deep breath through his nose and sighed with a tilt of his head, "I have to admit, my memories from my other form are a little fuzzy. But I do recognize the smell of your fear." He let a small smile take over his lips, "I never forget a scent."

"What are you doing here?" A female voice snapped sharply from behind them, "Visiting hours are over." She told the two teens angrily.

Amber gripped Stiles' hand tighter and spun wildly, not wanting to turn her back on Peter Hale or his nurse.

"You, and him-" Stiles stuttered looking between the adults on either side of them, "You-you're the one who sent the t- Oh, my g- And he's-"

"He's the Alpha." Amber whispered, letting her wide eyes fearfully drift over toward Peter Hale.

"Oh my god. We're gonna die." Stiles announced pitifully, squeezing her hand painfully tight.

Derek suddenly appeared from behind the nurses station and punched the woman in the side of her head forcefully. The woman, Jennifer, fell to the ground in a heap and Derek stepped forward until he was stood directly in front of Amber, blocking her view of Peter in the hallway.

"That's not nice." Peter scolded his nephew, "She's my nurse."

"She's a psychotic bitch who's helping you kill people." Derek snapped. He nodded his head at Stiles beside him, "Get Amber out of the way." He ordered.

Stiles looked between Derek and Peter for a slow second as the two werewolves geared up for a fight, "Oh, damn." Stiles grumbled.

"You think I killed Laura on purpose?" Peter asked Derek, stepping toward them slowly, "My own niece?"

Just as the two werewolves leapt into action, Amber was pulled to the side with Stiles' hands around her shoulders, falling into his chest as his back thumped against the wall behind them.

Derek growled loudly at his uncle and they lunged at one another in sync. Amber watched Peter shove his nephew against the wall beside them violently and Derek fell to the ground with a groan.

"Oh, god-" Amber squeaked, pulling Stiles down the hallway and away from the fight. The two of them stumbled and turned corner after corner to loop back around, crouching down to hide behind the nurses station. Releasing Stiles' hand, Amber leaned over to peer around the desk. She took a shaky breath and watched Derek push himself up onto his hands and knees as he spit a mouthful of blood onto the floor in front of him.

"Becoming an Alpha.. Taking that from Laura pushed me over a plateau in the healing process." Peter was explaining as he slowly made his way over to his nephew again, "I can't help that."

Derek got to his feet quickly and swung, but his hand was caught easily and Peter squeezed the fist in his grip. Even from several feet away, Amber could hear the bones in Derek's hand breaking and the noise made her sick to her stomach. Derek groaned in pain and collapsed onto his knees in front of his uncle.

"I tried to tell you what was happening. I tried to warn you." Peter admonished, bending over to grab Derek by his jacket before tossing him over the top of the nurses station like he weighed nothing.

The glass wall that had separated the space from the rest of the hallway shattered loudly as Derek's body crashed through it and shards of glass rained over Stiles and Amber's heads. The girl reached her arms up to block some of the debris as it fell and she watched Derek groan in pain as he hit the ground in front of them. She inched forward unconsciously and reached out for him but his gaze snapped up to her with a frantic look and he shook his head in a silent demand for her to stay put.

Derek began to drag himself away slowly on his elbows and Peter stalked behind him patiently. Stiles tugged Amber back to huddle beneath the desk until Peter had passed by them, the broken glass around them crunching underfoot as they squatted down and Amber took a nervous breath once the two werewolves were out of sight around a corner.

As soon as they were no longer in view, Stiles pulled her up to her feet and ran in the direction of the exit.

"No, no, wait! We can't leave him-" Amber pleaded, pulling against Stiles' hand on her wrist as he dragged her outside through the automatic doors.

"Yeah, well, not leaving isn't really an option." Stiles told her firmly, opening the passenger door of the Jeep and shoving her toward the vehicle.

She turned around and braced herself with a hand on the metal of the doorframe, "Stiles, please." She begged weakly when he tried to push her into the car again. She looked up at him in the dim light in the parking lot and felt her chest tighten as if she were about to cry.

"There's nothing we can do." Stiles told her.

She shook her head, "We- We can-"

"-Take on the Alpha even though he's in there kicking Derek's ass like it's nothing?" He finished, raising his eyebrows, "There's nothing we can do for him. But we need to go warn Scott."

She whined quietly, looking back at the doors to the hospital in distress as Stiles nudged her into the car again gently.

"Amber, please, for the love of god, get in the car." Stiles pleaded worriedly. "Scott." He reminded her, "We need to get to Scott."

With an anxious frown and a stomach full of knots, she climbed into the Jeep and allowed Stiles to slam the door shut behind her.

[cherryeol04]

Taking Control - Pt. 8

❥ Pairings: Y/n x Everyone

❥ Genre: Wolf au, romance, fluff, omega verse

❥ Word Count: 1.4K

❥ Series: No Control

❥ Previous • Next 

❥ Warning: This is a work of fiction. The members displayed in this story are not meant as an accurate portrayal of the members of Stray Kids. Everything is made up and not real!

The run had gone well in your opinion. You hadn’t realized just how big the forest surrounding the house was, but you were absolutely certain it was endless - or it felt that way at least. Chan had led the pack, which you had to admit, at some points had been difficult because his black coat blended in too well with the shadows casted from the trees. Thankfully Minho had been right beside him and in those times, you had used Minho as the guiding light. Chan had been right, Minho was absolutely gorgeous and unique with an all white coat. 

They were all gorgeous really. Varying shades of grays and browns. With the exception of Minho, all the alphas had black in their coats as well and you wondered if that signified their status. Would you be able to tell all alphas apart by the black in their coats? 

By far your favorite was Felix though. While he had a beautiful brindle coat, there were dark gray spots - almost perfect circles - that littered the sides of his coat. They reminded you of his freckles and maybe that’s how his freckles transferred over into his wolf form. 

Hyunjin was the biggest wolf, with Changbin coming in second. Hyunjin was more lanky though, which made sense, while Changbin was more of a stalky wolf. Just looking at him you could tell his wolf was solid muscle and definitely a force to be reckoned with. 

The run wasn’t very long, since it was your first one and after about an hour, you all headed back home. Transforming back had been an equally odd feeling, but it didn't hurt. And getting dressed had been a short affair and you had to say, you were glad to be clothed again. Though you were sure with time, you would get used to being naked and transforming in front of the others. The walk back to the house seemed longer than normal, though maybe it was just because you were tired. Your thighs and calves burned in ways that you hadn’t experienced in a long time. Back when you were a hunter, training was an everyday activity. You had built up your stamina, but since coming to live with the pack, you hadn’t really had much exercise snuck into your daily routine. In fact, besides the run, the only other long span of exercise was the long hike you took with Minho in Bucheon. 

Your pace was slower than the rest, though most didn’t notice you falling behind. They were busy talking animatedly about the run and the things they had experienced. Especially from Jisung, who was recounting the tale of how he nearly climbed the tree chasing a squirrel for the fifteenth time to whoever was listening. It was cute really, though if you recall correctly, Jisung had run head first into the tree and then just sat there pouting while the squirrel taunted him.

“...Y/n”

Your attention turned when you heard your voice being called. You scanned over the group, eyes landing on the only two people who were close to you at the time - Chan and Minho. The call had been soft, so you weren’t exactly sure which of the two had called your name, but you were sure it was one of them. Unless you were hearing things, which was a strong possibility. You watched them for a moment before looking away, wondering if they would possibly continue talking about you.

“Are you sure it’s Y/n?” It was Minho’s voice for sure and he sounded so uncertain. You couldn’t blame him, you were also confused. What was it that they were talking about and how were you involved? You knew you hadn’t done anything that would be deemed “horrible” by the pack and that would lead you exiled again. Of course, you hadn’t done anything in the first place either, but that hadn’t stopped them before. The pain of that day was still fresh, even now.

“You saw what she looked like.”  You dared to peek at them from the corner of your eye, Chan’s brows furrowed as he hissed the words to the other alpha. “Every one of those shifters were listed with the same features. Orange and brown coat, white under belly.”

“Chan, those are normal colors for wolves. You can’t possibly think-”

“White spot on the forehead.”

Those five words sent a shiver down your spine as your blood ran cold. While you got the gist of what they were talking about, it was that description of the white mark on the forehead that really got to you. Your mind raced back to that unfortunate day when you found the dead shifter. You couldn’t be completely sure that its colors had been orange and brown, but you distinctly remembered seeing the white mark on its forehead. It hadn’t seemed important at the time, but now…

“Chan…”

“You can’t tell me I’m wrong. This entire time, all those shifters were being killed under mistaken identity.” “Do you understand what you’re implying Chan?”

“I’m not stupid Minho, of course I do.” Chan’s voice grew softer and you couldn’t keep yourself from actually watching them. He looked distressed, though if he was, you couldn’t smell it. But Chan was a master of his wolf - it was probably child’s play to keep his scent under control. “It’s her they want.”

You…It was you the hunters were after. The revelation hit you like a ton of bricks, anxiety coursing through you. This entire time, hunters were out trying to murder you but instead they always ended up killing an innocent victim. Were they also the ones that attacked Jisung? You had always thought something was off with that attack, but you had never really asked anyone what happened. All you knew was that someone had attacked Jisung and the pack had thought you had done it because they found your locket at the scene of the crime.

The locket

“Y/n?” Your head whipped around, coming face to face with Jisung and Hyunjin, the two walking backwards as they faced you. “Are you alright?” Hyunjin asked.

“I’m fine.” It was a lie and they knew it was a lie. Yet they didn’t say anything and you were thankful for that. Because you weren’t sure if you were able to actually voice out the epiphany you just had. You didn’t want to acknowledge the puzzle you just solved. This entire time you had been on the hunt for information about your family, to learn where you came from and why your mother had killed your father and now you were faced with this. It sickened you to know that it was your friends, your family that were the ones out killing the shifters.

It wasn’t a question of how many hunters at this point - it was all of them. In your gut you knew it was the entire village out looking for you. But you couldn’t rationalize why. Yes you had transformed right in the open and all your friends had seen. Yes, they all ran you off out of the village, but you didn’t belong there anymore. You started a new life in the city, gaining the knowledge you needed in order to live a shifter life. You hadn’t caused any problems and yet they were still after you. 

Why?!

A hand slipped into yours, pulling you from your thoughts. You looked down at the hand before looking up at Jisung, a soft smile gracing your lips. He gave your hand a squeeze and a gentle tug, pulling you further into the pack. “Let’s make tacos when we get home!” he announced happily, momentarily distracting you from your spiraling thoughts.

“No.” Seungmin whined, pouting. “We literally had tacos last night.”

“No.” Jisung frowned. “We had burritos. They are completely different.” He corrected and you giggled.

“They are the same thing!” Seungmin protested. “It’s tortillas with meat, cheese and lettuce.” 

“Okay, maybe. But tacos are crunchy, so it’s different.” Jisung beamed at his reasoning, which grew when Seungmin couldn’t come up with a good comeback.

“Tacos it is.” Chan announced with a laugh. “Last one home does clean up!” It was a stampede as you took off running, fighting your way through bodies in hopes of not being last home. Though you had a sneaky suspicion that Chan himself was going to end up being last - like usual - and that was all but confirmed as you waited on the front porch for his arrival.

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( If you want to join the list, you can find the info here! Also I’m sorry for those listed in the tags but not getting tagged. For some reason tumblr can’t find your blog to tag. I’m hoping it figures it out soon like it did for others.)

[dumbass-tumbler-cryptid]

Hi, I have some questions about Cabin in the Woods! 1. What would happen if Spider just didn't react to Quaritch's presence? I mean, he'd just stare blankly into space. 2. Could he use the restroom in those weeks he was strapped down? 3. How was his meeting with Zddog? 4. What would Quaritch do if Spider simply refused to respond to names other than Spider and refused to call Quaritch father 5. That bracelet on his leg is a concussion bracelet? Would Quaritch seriously use it if his son tried to escape? 6. What would happen if Spider somehow found something sharp and hurt himself or his captor? Thanks in advance, I love your story <3

Hello! I love all these questions. Hope you don't mind me changing up the order in which I answer them. So...

1. What would happen if Spider just didn't react to Quaritch's presence?

Quaritch would have looked for an opportunity to make Spider react, like with the I.v and feeding tube. In my mind he always knew exactly what he was doing so if Spider just didn't react to him, Quaritch would probably say/do something to get a rise out of Spider, like insult the Sully's or break his skateboard.

2. What would Quaritch do if Spider simply refused to respond to names other than Spider and refused to call Quaritch father

Spider would have either never been released from his bed or if he tried this after being released Quaritch would have said he was "sick" and tied him up again until he broke.

3. That bracelet on his leg is a concussion bracelet? Would Quaritch seriously use it if his son tried to escape?

I imagined it as a cross between a shock collar and a house arrest ankle monitor. I imagine them as being high up in the mountains, somewhere really hard to get to. There's an invisible perimeter right at the point where you would start to climb down about a 20 mile hike from there house. If Spider had tried to escape he would have gotten electrocuted when he came to that point, if Quaritch hadn't tracked him down first. And yeah if Quaritch really lost his cool, I don't think he'd hesitate to shock Spider into submission and then make him believe he deserved it.

4. Could he use the restroom in those weeks he was strapped down?

Nope. I was intentionally vague about that one, with wording like he couldn't get up for anything so Quaritch had to help him with everything, because frankly that was a little to much for even me to write, but yeah there's definitely a bed pan involved.

5. What would happen if Spider somehow found something sharp and hurt himself or his captor?

With how I wrote Quaritch in this I dont think he ever would allowed for something like that to happen but if that did somehow happen...

If Spider intentionally hurt himself then its going to be a long time before Quaritch even considers letting Spider up from his bed again.

If Spider tried to hurt Quaritch... He honestly wouldn't stand a chance. In my fic Quaritch is definitely playing up the loving father archetype, but if Spider tried to hurt/kill him? That's out the window and the real Quaritch would come out and probably beat the shit out of Spider while again making him believe he deserves it.

6. How was his meeting with Z-dog?

I was actually going to write this but at a certain point I was ready to be done writing this fic and get back to my main fic so I decided to just mention her in passing. So allow me to fix that now...

It was mid December, a light snow covered the ground outside, the bright winter light streaming in through the living room windows. Miles was situated in front of the fireplace, doing his English homework. The only sounds were the crackling of the fire and the steady beat of his Papa chopping wood out front.

    Then the beat stilled. He heard his Papa call out to someone. A woman’s voice answered. A visitor. Miles quickly dropped his book, scurrying to the window to get a look at the new arrival. The woman looked strong, even under her many layers of warm clothes. She was carrying a large backpack, climbing gear strapped to the top and sides. It was hard to get a good look at her face nestled between her thick wool hat and scarf, but Miles could still make out the smile she gave to his Papa upon seeing him. The woman caught him staring. Her smile got even wider at the sight of him, eyes shining like she was seeing something amazing. 

      “Miles” Papa called as he led the woman inside. The boy immediately scurried to attention. “This is your Auntie Z. She’ll be staying with us for a few days.”

    “Hi Miles,” Auntie Z greated, approaching him. She took his hand in hers and politely shook it.

    Miles liked her already, “hi Auntie Z.” Something about her made him feel instantly comfortable. 

  “Z why don’t you get settled in. Warm up by the fire. Junior can help you out with whatever you need. I'll make us all some lunch,” Papa’s tone was good natured but they both took it as an order, Z quickly unpacking, Miles assisting. 

   Twenty minutes later the trio sat down to a lunch of roasted rabbit and pickled greens, the adults drinking coffee while Miles was given hot tea. Papa asked Z how she’d been doing, what’d she’d been getting up to lately, how her trip up the mountain had gone. Then the conversation took an unexpected turn. “What’s the word on the search for me and Junior?”

     Z looked shocked, side eyeing Miles. She couldn’t believe her commander just asked her that in front of his son. The kid in question just looked at her curiously, while his father patiently sipped his coffee waiting for an answer. “The news coverage stopped months ago. The police gave up the search back in October when they couldn’t find any leads. Miles' last foster family, the Sully's, hired a private investigator. Ja tapped the guy's phone. So far the guy hasn’t been able to find anything.”

    The Colonel clapped his hands, a wicked excitement blazing in his eyes, “hear that Junior! Where in the clear, baby.”

    Miles smiled at his Papa, but it didn’t feel completely genuine. He felt a little queasy at the announcement but decided the food was just getting to him. Z looked him up and down before turning her attention back to her meal saying nothing.

     The next day, Papa invited Z on a hunt but she declined, “I’d like to spend some one on one time with my nephew if you don’t mind.”

    Papa seemed like he definitely did mind but let it happen all the same, leaving to set traps out in the woods. Z settled on the couch, while Miles layed on the floor trying and failing to concentrate on his math workbook. “Your friends miss you,” Z said startling Miles from his lesson, “those Sully kids. They still put up missing posters for you every weekend. And that private investigator their parents hired. The best money can buy. Your daddy is just better.”

    Something Miles had long since thought dead, started clawing its way up. Tears started pooling in his eyes but he wouldn’t let them fall. “Why are you telling me this?”

    Auntie Z shrugged, “thought you’d want to know.” There was a beat of silence, where the pair just stared into the roaring fire together. Then “are you happy here?”

    Miles' breath hitched and he almost ran to grab his inhaler. But this wasn’t an asthma attack. He felt more than heard the ghost of his past life. It was like trying to remember a dream from decades ago. ……no.. the admission faintly echoed in the back of his mind, causing a tidal wave of guilt and anger. “Why do you care?” 

   Z sighed, “I owe you dad my life. He’s saved my ass more times than I can count. He’ll always be my colonel. But….your mom. She was my friend. She loved you more than anything. I owe it to her to make sure you're okay.”

   The boy couldn’t help the tears that fell. “Yeah..” he said between choked cries… “I’m…” he hesitated. Why was he hesitating? Just say the words, I’m happy, I’m happy, I’m “….fine. I’m fine.”

    Z nodded, “I can’t imagine what all this has been like for you. But I do know, your father loves you. He really does. He just has a ….complicated way of showing it.”

    Miles wiped his eyes on his sleeve, “yeah I know.”

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much for the questions 💞

[skippyangel16]

I JUST DON’T GET IT…

Why the urgent need for a trek in OCT 2021?

👆From @bat-cat-reader and excerpts from book from @bat-cat-reader post source via Amazon.👇

An impulsive move in OCTOBER…not saying it is one but it reads like a panic attack to me?

I believe him to be an experienced walker, mountain climber but he didn’t know what he needed? This is someone who has told us he wants to climb mountains like everest and appears to be always on a run or a hike up a mountain. A man who is thorough and meticulous with research. (He decided to do the trek at end of filming Outlander so plenty of time to consider what was needed even though at that point he had not decided exactly when it would be done?)

To set off at dawn but not go to the shop until it’s practically shutting sounds like madness!

It’s way too hard to believe he had to buy everything and so last minute, that he had no one to help? Most people here would think he would have some kit at home but alas Sam did not even have a hat! 🫤

Coffee maker….really? Well panic buying for a trip that deserves/demands more attention and preparation would involve poor decisions…🤷‍♀️

He asks ‘Am I crazy?’ Well not sounding too rational at this point…

What would drive such a desperate need for reflection?

Someone here and overseas promoting Belfast, 24/7?

(Well in October 2021 Belfast promo is ramped up and Cait is ‘glowing in gold’ and dreaming of James Bond perks! ) 🤫

Or were you mentally prepping for what was coming? More Belfast…

Could it be the anticipation of all those wonderful baby questions…

This is so uncomfortable to watch…JMHO

Or maybe you simply just needed to share so we can understand you better? 🤷‍♀️

Anyway…Congrats you got a book out just in time for Christmas !

Everything’s so much clearer now…

The fandom is so much calmer…job done! ✅

[jack-daww]

A (very late) birthday present for @witchy-self-shipper ! Happy birthday and I hope you enjoy!

You can hear the water rushing far before you see the actual waterfall. No, that's not quite right. You did see the waterfall, when you were standing further down the river. When you looked up the mountain and saw this waterfall, smaller compared to the big one most people visit, and decided you were going there.

The sound of rushing water gets louder and then louder still. The waterfall is still hidden behind the towering trees, but if you look hard enough, you can almost convince yourself that you can see the spray between the tips of the trees like a thin mist. You can taste it, too. Not salty like the ocean, but definitely different from how the air tastes otherwise.

You round the last corner and there it is. The waterfall is taller than it looked from down by the foot of the mountain, where you saw it in direct contrast to the much bigger waterfall. But this is better, you're sure of that.

You look up and the water itself is surrounded by a white mist, rushing down and down and down. The ground is wet starting just a few steps in front of you. You walk forwards, careful not to slip on the damp dirt. There are no other people here.

You can't see the bottom of the mountain, hidden by the trees as it is, but that's fine. You'll look down when you get higher up, if you decide to go further. For now, though, you're here.

The waterfall thunders into a deeper part of the riverbed, getting shallower on it's way down the mountain. You might even be able to wade across in the shallower parts of it, though you'd have to carry your backpack over your head. The riverbed is surrounded by a stony shore, some larger rocks reaching into the water itself.

Some meters back from the other side, the trees pick up again, though unlike the side you're standing on, there is no path in that direction.

You hesitate, before setting your backpack down on a dry spot. It's on some larger stones, far enough away that the spray of the waterfall won't reach it but close enough that you can keep an eye on it. You eye the rocks leading into the deeper parts of the river. Most of them are wet from the spray, but some are dry enough that you could stand on them.

Finding a way onto the larger rocks that doesn't involve climbing is difficult, but you manage. Some rock are close enough together, in both space and size, that you manage to walk up them almost like stairs. You still need to be careful where you step, but you end up standing on a larger rock, a bit off the riverside.

The spray is already starting to dampen your hair, waterdroplets landing on the skin of your face and arms. It's comfortably cool, refreshing after your hike. You shoot a look at your backpack. You have food and water with you, but you're not quite hungry yet. So for now, you decide to sit down.

You let your legs hang off the side of the larger rock you're on, your shoes almost scuffing the dry rock you used on your way up to the one you're sitting on. The water underneath you is clear enough to see to the bottom of the river, at least further down from the waterfall where it has settled and the airbubbles have all risen to the surface, the foam dissolved.

It would be quiet here, you think, if the constant noise of the water wasn't thundering in the background, but you find you don't mind it. It's calming.

You sigh and close your eyes, leaning back on your arms. The spray keeps hitting your skin, your hair is starting to stick to your face. It's nice.

You're not quite sure how long you sit there like that, listening to the water and feeling the drops hit your skin, but eventually your arms start to protest carrying so much of your weight. You open your eyes and lean forward, shaking your arms out at your side.

You carefully let yourself slip forward until you're standing on the smaller rock your shoes were hovering over before. You make your way to solid ground again before you stretch your arms and back. It was a bad idea to stay in that position for so long, but there is nothing to do about that now.

Your backpack is still where you left it and you pick it up, looking around. There is no bench to sit here, but some of the rocks will do just fine. You hum to yourself and though you can't quite hear the sound over how loud the waterfall is, you can feel it in your throat. Yeah, you should drink something.

The rocks you end up picking are further away from the waterfall and completely dry. It's a surprise how quickly the sound of the water dampens when you're no longer right next to it.

You pull out your waterbottle and take a look at your watch before you take a swig. Yeah, you won't climb higher today. After your break, you'll just make your way back down. That's fine, there's always tomorrow.

You open a dose of cookies and take one, watching the spray glitter in the air as the water continues rushing down. You can't help but smile. You're not in a rush.

[gillie266]

Yeein' On That 'Haw Ch. 6-- [Rapidly Approaching Monkey Noises]

I was still grappling with my current situation as I began following the stream toward who knows where. My strides were long and unsteady, and I occasionally had to grab onto a nearby tree to keep myself from tipping over and smashing my newly phone-head open on the ground. 

My thoughts continued to run rampant. Was I really conscious? Was I in a coma? Why did I hear gunshots right before I blacked out? Did Violet get gunned down along with me, and I was reincarnated in the arcade machine? If so, is she in here with me? Maybe it was just an act of divine intervention. Actually, no, that was stupid. 

The sounds of the brook thankfully muted most of my less sane thoughts, but they couldn’t silence my worries about what I was going to do when night fell. For all I knew, there could be monsters that come out at night in this strange reality I have found myself in. Or worse, some eldritch creatures or shadow clouds. I made a vague plan that involved maybe climbing a tree and tying myself to a branch to prevent falling out of it– Hunger Games style. At least then I would be safe from most predators. 

Speaking of the Hunger Games, I was beginning to get a little peckish. Hauling my own head around on my shoulders had proven to be quite the workout, and that along with hiking through the forest had caused me to begin working up an appetite. But I don’t eat a ton, so it shouldn’t have been hard to track something down. 

…It was, in fact, hard to track something down. I only wound up finding a small bush of red berries. I couldn’t tell if they were poison berries or not, but I decided to have a go at eating them anyway. I know, stupid. But I came across a problem: I had no mouth. I didn’t even know if I could eat. If I could eat, then I didn’t know how. I supposed I would have to go hungry until I figured out how to eat things with a phone for a head. I shoved the berries into my pocket for safekeeping. Yes, gross. 

Eventually, the sun completely disappeared below the horizon, and I felt my anxiety spike. I really didn’t like the dark– I had like six different night lights in my bedroom back home. Oh, how I longed for the sight of my delicious night lights. I debated starting a fire, but if there was one thing I’ve learned from horror movies and games with forest settings, it’s that fires attract bad guys. So I supposed I was stuck with my crippling terror of the dark for the night. 

I glanced around, squinting as best as I could to adjust my eyes– optical sensors?-- to the darkness and approached one of the strangely pink-tinted trees. I felt around for any handholds before carefully climbing the length of the tree. It was significantly more difficult to do so than it was back home– mainly because of the several pounds of phone strapped to my head! 

I made it to a rather sturdy branch and slung my leg over it, effectively seating myself and leaning my back against the trunk. I sighed in a mixture of relief and exasperation while I processed the day’s events. My head was a phone, I probably died in a museum robbery, and now I was in a seemingly alternate universe with no friendly faces or society in sight. On top of that, I was probably about to die in these pink-tinted woods! That was somehow worse than dying in regular-tinted woods. 

Even worse, I was bored. I didn’t have any sketchbooks or pencils with me, nor did I have my phone– my cell phone– so I couldn’t lose myself in Flappy Bird for hours until I felt tired enough to somehow doze off in this tree. I supposed I would just have to use my thoughts to entertain myself until I was tired. It was too dark and I didn’t know enough about the area to keep traveling at night. 

I’m not sure exactly how much time passed. It could have been hours, minutes, maybe only a few seconds. The moon didn’t tell me much. I was just grateful for the fact that there even was a moon in this universe. Regardless, after an indeterminate amount of time, I began hearing noises. What sounded like several sets of footsteps and… squawking? Like… of birds. Hey, at least I knew birds existed. Maybe I could hunt them down for, like… makeshift wings or something. 

I glanced over the side of the branch I rested on, using what little light the moon provided to see if I could find the source of the squawking. It sounded pretty close, so I assumed that I could. I was met with the sight of a pack of three birds– white ones, waddling along and honking as they went. Honestly, they looked so unbelievably stupid. But here’s the thing: they had fucking paper shredders for heads. What the fuck?!

Based on my limited knowledge of birds, without seeing their heads, I assumed they were either geese or swans. I couldn’t quite tell from this height. That confused me– didn’t those birds hang out at ponds? What were they doing in the middle of a forest? Maybe there was a pond nearby. Hey, maybe that meant I was close to a park or something! I felt a glimmer of hope surface in my phone-head. I still couldn’t get over that, man. 

My only issue was these birds. If they were geese, I could probably walk right past them as long as I didn’t get too close. If they were swans, though… I had a problem. Swans are mean little bastards. They’ll break your legs for looking at them wrong. But hey, I still wasn’t sure if I was dreaming, so I thought I might as well take a gamble. 

I leaned over the edge of the branch and cupped a hand around my lips before making a gentle honking noise. Don’t look at me like that, it seemed like a good idea at the time. You gotta see it from my point of view– if I honked at the birds, and they were geese, they would probably just look at me funny and move on. If they were swans, they would instantly rip me to shreds, no pun intended, and I would be free of this phone-hell. It was a win-win!

I could have sworn I heard these birds’ necks snap as they turned to look up at me. I froze. They froze. They honked in perfect unison. 

Then they were practically screaming, making terribly aggressive noises as they instantly took off and fuckin’ ascended into the tree just so they could violently begin attacking me. Okay, they were swans! Great! Fuck! 

I’m not even sure what happened– it was a complete blur of screaming, flailing, and feathers that I hardly noticed when I fell out of the tree. It was kinda rad, honestly. That was, until the swans followed me and continued attacking me. Now that I thought about it, dying from being torn apart by swans was not how I wanted to go. So I began fighting back! I think I hit them once or twice. My memory was too blurred by adrenaline to properly retain any of this. 

Then, just as I thought my tombstone would say “Herein lies (Y/N), mauled by avian pond dinosaurs, RIP in pieces” I heard a distant crashing sound. The swans halted their ripping and tearing and looked up, only to squawk threateningly before scattering and waddling away. 

I literally thought I died there. But when I opened my (metaphorical?) eyes, expecting to see either a white void or a very handsome man welcoming me to Hell, I wasn’t expecting to see a goddamn gorilla. Well, kind of a gorilla. It had a handheld camera for a head. It looked vaguely curious as it looked down at my bloodied and battered form. 

Okay, be honest, what else could I do here but scream? It was a monkey! Monkeys are mean! They kill people just for funsies! I wished the swans would have just finished me off. 

Startled, the gorilla creature made a grunting noise before jolting back a few feet. I scrambled to a seated position, still screaming, before my back hit the trunk of the tree that I just fell out of. It’s a miracle my spine didn’t break or something. 

After a moment, my screaming died down, and the gorilla and I only looked at each other. Hang on, why was this gorilla bipedal? And why did it have a semi-human body? Two things could be happening here. Either this was just how gorillas were in this reality, or I had just become a bigfoot truther. I hoped it was the latter. 

I swallowed a mixture of saliva and blood before carefully pushing myself to my feet, phone-head components rattling about as I did. The gorilla posted up, seeming tense and… almost frightened. We stared at each other wordlessly for a moment before I lifted a hand to wave at the creature. “Um… hello.”

The monkey gave a startled grunt before darting backward another few feet, as if to run. I extended both hands in a somewhat calming gesture. “Hang on, hang on!” I frantically attempted to soothe the creature. If it wasn’t trying to kill me to death, then maybe I could try taming it. Maybe I could get a monkey mount. 

It halted its movement, tilting its camera-head confusedly for a moment. I then remembered the berries in my pocket and slowly reached inside to retrieve them. I don’t know what I was thinking– if they were poisonous, then I might have either killed the gorilla or made myself its enemy. But I wasn’t quite thinking right– I was bleeding out and recovering from a swan attack. 

It took a few good moments of coaxing, but I managed to get the creature close enough to extend my hand to it. It leaned forward, sniffed the berries, and instantly devoured them by shoving them into a hole at the base of its head. I thought it ate my hand along with the berries at first, but it didn’t. Once it finished literally decimating those berries, it looked at me expectantly for more. I shrugged. “No more. No more berries. I think.” I checked my pockets. “Nope. No berries.” 

The creature deflated disappointedly. I winced. “Yeah, I know, it sucks. At least now I know they weren’t poisoned… and that there’s a– hang on,” I tilted my chin upward and felt along the base of my head and, sure enough, there was a small slot there. I assumed it was for food. Gross. 

I was shocked that this monkey thing was sticking around. If it was friendly, then… maybe I could get a tactical monkey companion. But I had to figure out exactly what it was first. It seemed to have some form of linguistic ability, so I cleared my throat and gestured to myself. “Me, (Y/N),” I nodded enthusiastically, watching as it matched my movement. I pointed at it. “You, gorilla?” 

It shook its head insistently. Christ, what was I getting myself into? I swallowed and tried again. “You… big…foot?” 

This creature immediately nodded aggressively, pounding on its chest with enough force to shake the ground beneath my feet. Holy shit. I was interacting with bigfoot, a literal cryptid, and he had saved me from being mauled to death by savage pond dinosaurs! Good lord, maybe this arcade machine wasn’t so bad after all. 

I laughed incredulously, the high-pitched sound causing Bigfoot to jolt slightly. “No fuckin’ way, dude,” I began, resting a hand on where my forehead would be. “Okay, Bigfoot, can you point me toward society? People, perchance?” 

Bigfoot tilted his head for a moment before I gestured to myself. “More like me. People. Humans.”

He nodded and pointed vaguely to the east, and I enthusiastically gripped his free hand to shake it. Christ, I was shaking hands with Bigfoot. He tensed. “Thank you, Bigfoot! You don’t understand how rough I’ve had it, man, it’s been insane–”

Without warning, Bigfoot made a frightened noise and yanked his hand away from mine before turning and booking it further into the woods. I didn’t chase him, because I knew he could rip me apart if he chose to, but a part of me couldn’t help but feel disappointed. I met Bigfoot, he gave me directions, and then he ran away. Oh, well. I had my directions. I turned and began marching to the east, my wounds still actively bleeding and my head still actively a phone. 

I was still afraid of the dark, though. Fuck. 

[fluffyllamas-23]

🎮🩹🐈🍃🍝 for Jason and Ryan?

Thank you for this! As a refresher, Jason is an elementary school principal, and Ryan is an attorney. I’m also including Paul and Aiden like you suggested the other day. Paul is a writer who recently published his first novel and has had some short stories published in magazines. Aiden owns a christmas tree farm with his family (okay that’s kind of a random occupation, I know, but last year I decided I needed some OCs modeled after hallmark movie characters so here they are lmfao). Some slight TW for mentions of ab//use

🎮 What are three of your oc's favorite hobbies?

Jason: Pretty much all of his hobbies are outdoors or involve being active. He loves to hike. It helps him clear his mind and get his thoughts in order if his ADHD meds aren’t doing their job. He likes to go with Ryan, too. He’s into rock climbing as well. He never does it outside, but he’ll go to the gym that has a really nice rock climbing wall and can spend hours there. He also plays soccer in a rec league. He played soccer for years, all through high school and in college, and now he has the rec league to get his soccer fix.

Ryan: Ryan loves to read, and his favorite genre is high fantasy. He has a few authors whose work he loves to relax to, and he will frequently re-read books. If he’s had a really long and stressful day, he’ll come home and pick up his VERY well loved copy of LOTR and will read that for a bit to decompress. He loves to hike, too. It’s something he and Jason like to do together. Sometimes they bring their kids on kid-friendly ones, other times they find someone to watch them so they can do more strenuous ones. He loves to play the piano, too. He’s been playing off and on for a number of years, and really enjoys finding his favorite movie scores and trying to teach them to himself. 

Paul: Paul is a big art history buff. He loves going on museum dates with Aiden (they’re his FAVORITE dates), and going to the museum when there are new exhibits. He also has a few pieces from his favorite artists hanging up in his office and their house. He’s a big reader, too. Kind of cliche for a writer, but he truly believes that the best way to write well is to consume as much literature as possible, so he does. When he was married to his ex, he loved reading because it was an escape from his really toxic relationship and something he could dissociate with. Now, though, he reads more for enjoyment and relaxation. He’s really into film as well. He has favorites from all decades and will spend hours listening to podcasts on his favorite ones and consuming as much media about them as possible. 

Aiden: Aiden is clinically insa-I mean loves to run! He was on the cross-country team all throughout middle and high school, and kept it up after. It’s something that’s really grounding and soothing for him, and he’ll often go on a second run if he’s feeling extra stressed for whatever reason that day. He likes pottery, too, and will often go to the local pottery shop where he can take classes. One day he’d like to have a studio setup in their house, but until then he just goes to the shop. He’s a really great cook, too and loves it a lot. He loves challenging himself to make really complicated recipes and can usually pull them off beautifully. Paul also enjoys this hobby of his because he always benefits from it lmao. 

🩹 Does your oc have any physical and/or mental disabilities?

Jason: Jason has no physical disabilities, but he is neurodivergent. He has ADHD and is medicated for it. He takes meds everyday which usually help beautifully - it quiets his brain and allows him to be much more organized in his day to day life. He’s an elementary school principal and he NEEDS to be able to be quick and with it enough when managing his employees, the kids, and their parents. It’s a lot and he would feel incapable of doing it well if he weren’t medicated. On days where his normal dose doesn’t work for whatever reason, he’s been prescribed another low dose, quick release med he can take to give him the boost he needs. He’s also dyslexic. He had the loveliest tutor when he was in school who had a lot of experience working with students who have learning disabilities and it helped him make it through. As an adult, he still won’t read for fun because he finds it stressful. It’s difficult to keep his place, and the words get all jumbled up and he gets really frustrated. He can do it for work when he has to but he has to really slow down and take his time. One of his office managers, Alaina, will often read whatever it is to him and help him transcribe emails as long as it’s not any sensitive student information he has to read. She’s pretty much family at this point (he was her student in his first year of teaching, so he’s known her for a lot of her life) and she never makes him feel judged or embarrassed by needing help.  

Ryan: Ryan doesn’t have any physical or mental disabilities. 

Paul: Paul has no physical disabilities, but he has anxiety and depression and is medicated for both. The antidepressants are an everyday, he MUST take them, kind of thing, but the anxiety meds are more for if all of his coping mechanisms aren’t working and he needs them on a rescue-basis. 

Aiden: Aiden has no physical or mental disabilities.

🐈 Does your oc prefer a wide circle of friends or a few close friends?

Jason: Jason has a wide circle of friends that he likes to hang out with sometimes. They’ll all go out to the movies, or for dinner and drinks, stuff like that. Most of them also have kids, so they’ll often have gatherings where the kids can go hang out while the adults do as well. Even though he loves that bigger group of friends, he has a pretty small circle of a handful of friends he’d consider his best friends.

Ryan: Ryan prefers a smaller circle of friends. He’s not a huge fan of large social gatherings, though he’ll sometimes come to dinner and drinks with Jason’s larger group of friends. Sometimes he’ll go out for happy hour with his coworkers at his firm, too, but overall he definitely prefers to keep a really small close group of friends. 

Paul: Paul is really introverted. It takes a while for him to trust people enough to let them in because he just doesn’t trust people easily. His ex-husband was abusive and really isolated him, so he lost a lot of friends during that relationship. He’s slowly building his social circle back, but it’s just going to take awhile. 

Aiden: Aiden has a larger social circle than Paul, but he’s not looking to expand it, really. He still doesn’t have a ton of friends in his social circle, as he really prefers quality over quantity. 

🍃 What is/was your oc's favorite subject in school?

Jason: Jason was a big fan of hands-on subjects.  His favorite academic subject was any science class he took that had a heavy hands-on component, and his favorite non-academic subjects were ceramics and woodshop. He’s really good at working with his hands and I think if he hadn’t gone into teaching, he’d have skipped college and gone to some sort of trade school.

Ryan: Ryan’s favorite subjects in school were pretty much any history class, and his speech and debate classes. That may be kind of cliche bc lawyer, but he really thrived in those classes.

Paul: His favorite classes were always his English classes. He’s always loved all sorts of literature and writing, and had always had his teachers tell him he should seriously consider becoming a writer. He also loved history, specifically the art history courses he took in college. He would frequently take those as his elective even if they weren’t technically considered electives. 

Aiden: Aiden was NOT an academic person. He didn’t like school, and there were no subjects he was passionate about. He hated being stuck inside, he hated the fluorescent lights, and he hated having to sit for long stretches of time. He’s smart and did well by just skating by but he resented having to sit and learn everything lmao. He did really like gym class and ended up being in cross country in middle and high school. He just has a lot of energy and it wasn’t conducive to having to sit for long periods of time. 

🍝 What is/are your oc's favorite food(s)?

Jason: Jason is your classic ADHD “hyperfixation meal” kinda guy. He’ll only want to eat something for weeks and then all of a sudden is so tired of it and doesn’t want it anymore, and then he’ll move onto the next thing. He’s not really a fan of complicated, fancy food. He’d much rather have pizza and wings, or mac n cheese, or a burger than going to grab sushi.

Ryan: Ryan, in contrast to his husband, is a big fan of really interesting food, complex food. He really likes any kind of Asian food, especially sushi and will frequently go get it with the other partners and attorneys at his firm. 

Paul: Paul really loves diner food. Grilled cheese, mac n cheese, burgers, that kind of thing. He also likes steak, which is good because Aiden loves that. He’s pretty picky and likes what he likes. His ex always made him feel guilty for his food preferences and would often make comments about how he can’t have what he likes because Paul is soooooo picky and it would make him feel bad. Aiden will tell him not to feel bad about what he wants to eat and he’s happy to go wherever Paul wants to go.

Aiden: Aiden is a big steak and potatoes person. He loves loaded baked potatoes and loaded baked potato soup, and if he could subsist solely on steak and potatoes, he WOULD. He and Paul will frequently go out on dates to the museum and then finish the night off with a fancy steakhouse.